Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
by Ice Prince Hitsugaya
Summary: A continuation of; Inverted Sky: Kingdom Hearts I. A retelling of the KH series where Sora is not only the natural born wielder of the Kingdom Key-D, but is also a girl. Join Sora on her quest through Castle Oblivion as new and strange events start to occur and many horrible truths are revealed. Continued on in Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days
1. Castle Oblivion part I

**Alright, the first chapter to the new part of the series. It's time to start Chain of Memories everyone~! It's not particularly my favorite game, at least as far as actual game play. But I do enjoy the story, so that's mainly what I'll be focusing on. Though just as a heads up, this part of the story won't be very long since there is kind of limited material to work with. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. And if you haven't read the first part of the story; Inverted Sky: Kingdom Hearts I...then I suggest you read that first and come back to this one afterward.**

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 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 1: Castle Oblivion part I

Sora slowly opened her eyes the moment she felt her feet on a solid surface once more. Though she quickly began to squint as it took a few moments to adjust to the bright light around her. Once she was able to see clearly however, the teen just blinked many times in confusion as to where she ended up. Her having just jumped into the abyss in the Realm of Darkness before arriving in this new and very strange place.

It being a fully white room with many strange markings on the walls, as well as a series of torches lighting the area as brightly as it was. Though there was a single set of doors on the far side, there was not any other method escape. Of which made the teen let out a huff in response while crossing her arms in suspicion.

"D-Did I really make it out? Or is this just some kind of illusion?" she muttered silently to herself, all while glancing at the pure white room and facing away from the door.

"I assure you..." a sudden male voice spoke up from behind the teen, to which she immediately pocketed the charm in her hand and summoned the Keyblade.

"...this place is no illusion." they continued as Sora turned around to face them with a fire in her eyes.

The person had the same appearance as the hooded figure she had met in Hollow Bastion, yet since his voice was different, she knew instantly that he wasn't the same man. "And you are?" she questioned as her gaze narrowed heavily on him.

"It's of no importance right now." was all he responded with, to which Sora pointed her weapon toward the man and seemed to focus on something.

Yet when nothing happened, the brown-haired girl blinked many times in shock as she looked at her Keyblade as if in disbelief. "What the...why can't I use magic?" she whispered silently before glaring at the hooded figure when he spoke up once more.

"The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and ability you knew." he began with a gloved hand pointing toward her.

"Of course...the forgetting does not end there." the man continued as he then gestured to the walls around them.

"In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way of things in Castle Oblivion." he finished, which caused Sora's eyes to widen as she recalled the Cheshire Cat's words.

'H-He knew all along that I'd end up here.' she thought to herself in shock and disbelief, something the hooded figure noticed and took advantage of.

The second Sora's gaze was broken from him, the man flew toward the teen at great speed. This frightening the girl as she brought her Keyblade out to defend herself, yet the hooded man simply passed right through her. The teen blinked many times as she swiftly turned around as the man came to a stop and then vanished in an oval-shaped flood of darkness around him.

Immediately following this, Sora looked around quickly before turning back around as the figure appeared near the doors once more. "How interesting." was all he said at first, it being clear he discovered something just now.

"What was 'that' supposed to do?" the teen all but demanded as she readied her weapon once more, yet she quickly started feeling nervous.

The girl understanding that if the man so chose, he could end her life at any second on a whim. But it then drew the question of why he hadn't done so already within her mind. Though, she didn't think further on this as the hooded figure spoke up once more while holding up a large blue card.

"I sampled your memories...and from them, I made this." he said while throwing the card toward the teen, whom caught it quickly with her free hand.

"This is the key to reuniting with those you hold dear." was the last thing he said before vanishing once more into an oval flood of darkness.

Once he was gone, Sora looked down at the card in her hand and saw the familiar picture of Traverse Town. This lead for her to look at the doors directly in front of her, to which she let out a heavy breath. "Well...I suppose there isn't exactly anywhere else to go." she muttered as she glanced at the rest of completely sealed room.

Upon walking up to the doors, the card in her hand began to glow brightly, to which they slid open on their own and allowed her to walk through. However, the next thing Sora knew, she was walking out of the 'room' she just came from with her Keyblade unsummoned. The teen blinking many times from this as she still felt like she had just been to Traverse Town, yet there weren't any solid memories of what just happened.

"Wh-What the..." she began, yet trailed off while looking behind her to the now closed doors.

"Enjoy your stay within your memories?" the man's voice echoed out as this new room was much larger than the last, him standing directly in front of the girl.

"What just happened? I know I just visited Traverse Town and met the friends I made there, yet I don't remember much else." Sora responded while narrowing her eyes as if blaming the man for this.

"As I told you, to find is to lose...and to lose is to find." was all he responded with, his tone alone making it obvious he was smirking under his hood.

"You gained something while in that world, therefore...you lost something of equal value." he continued, to which he pointed at the teen.

"Do you not have an ability you lost upon coming here?" the man stated, to which Sora blinked a few times and looked down to both her hands.

Of which took on a small black aura, it being clear that she regained a small portion of knowledge about her dark powers while in her memories. However, she couldn't recall what it was in the slightest as she had even forgotten the moment she achieved this. Though she quickly looked back to the hooding figure and narrowed her eyes once more.

"Just what do you want from me?" she more of demanded than asked, her feeling as if she was being lead around like a puppet since the man had known something that she herself couldn't remember.

"What do you have to give?" he questioned back while taking a step forward, yet quickly stopped when an oval flood of darkness appeared behind him and revealed another male.

This person wore a similar coat as the other man, yet his seemed to be more slender around the arms and waist. He also had his hood down, which revealed his long, yet very spiky red hair. It also showed Sora the purple, reverse-teardrop shaped markings under each of his emerald green eyes.

"Hello~!" he announced with a brief wave of his hand and a grin on his features.

The sudden intrusion made Sora blink many more times, her feeling even more lost than before as to what was going on. "What do you want?" the hooded man questioned in a calm tone, as if not entirely surprised by the interruption.

"No hogging the hero...well, I guess heroine would be more accurate, huh?" the other man said while continuing to smirk the whole time.

Immediately following his comment, the hooded figure threw what looked to be another blue card toward the red-haired man. Whom caught it with ease as he took a few steps forward, to which the other man turned away from Sora and walked past his 'comrade'. "Then perhaps you'd like to test her." he muttered out as he went by.

"Perhaps I would." was the red-head's response as the other man soon vanished just as he had before.

"My show now, Keyblade Master." he continued while looking to Sora, whom just watched this exchange in utter confusion.

"Who am I? The name's Axel, got it memorized?" this man questioned, him tapping the side of his head while speaking.

"Yeah...but just in the world is going on here?" Sora started in a low growl as she clenched her hands into fists.

"One minute I jump into the dark abyss, and then suddenly you guys show up telling me all these crazy things! I lose my abilities and spells, and now suddenly you're having me go through my own memories?! What for?!" she continued while grinding her teeth in a bit of frustration, it being the first time in a while that she didn't know anything of what was happening around her.

"What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?! Just what is this place?!" the teen demanded in a loud tone, her unable to remain calm anymore.

"Oh~...looks like you've already started asking questions." Axel began with a brief chuckle, to which he crossed his arms.

"That's good. But I'm afraid if you want to know something...you're gonna have to lose something in return." he continued, him gesturing around them with a hand before crossing it across his chest once more.

"Or did you not get the hint from the start?" the man questioned as he tilted his head to the side and leaned forward slightly.

Sora narrowed her eyes on him briefly before glancing to the door behind him; "So in order to figure out what's going on...I'm have to just keep on moving through this castle? The exact way that you guys seem to want me to go." she started while shifting her gaze back to the red head.

"Forgive my skepticism, but I don't really like that option. No matter what you 'promise' is at the end." she stated while readying herself to fight as the Keyblade appeared in her hand.

"Well...whether you like it or not, playing our little game is your only chance of getting out of here to begin with. So I'd suggest you make up your mind of what you'll do with the limited options you have." Axel claimed, to which he brought his arms up as a great heat wave flowed from him.

"But in the mean time..." he continued as a surge of fire flowed around him for a brief moment.

This producing a series of spinning flames to his sides, to which he then grabbed them and grasped a hold of what appeared to be twin Chakrams. These being silver and red in color, as well as had eight spikes, four shorter ones and four longer ones. "...lets see just how good you've gotten thus far." he finished before rushing forward with his weapons swinging at the girl.

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 **There you have it, I'm going to be skipping all of the worlds Sora will visit...so I'm sure you can imagine that this part of the series is not going to be a particularly long one. But I will be filling it up with a lot of 'character stuff' for Sora. So hopefully, by the end of this story...you guys will like Sora all the more. ;) Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and will let me know in a review. Until next time everyone.  
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	2. Castle Oblivion part II

**Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 2: Castle Oblivion part II

Sora rushed to the side as she dodged away from attack after attack by Axel's Chakrams. The red-haired man himself throwing them continuously as they kept coming back to him upon missing their target. However, as the teen ran, she kept stealing a glance toward her opponent. Him having a ring of fire at the base of his feet, which she knew would erupt around him like a shield the moment she got too close.

'But it's not an automatic attack, otherwise, the fire would shoot out from the floor as soon as his weapons came back. So that means, he needs to be aware of my approach for him to activate it.' she thought quickly while deflecting both Chakrams away when they came rushing at her.

Yet immediately following this, Axel appeared right in front of her and kicked the teen hard in the stomach. All the while, he caught his weapons and slashed them down at the girl. Whom blocked the attack with her Keyblade before parrying them to the side and attempting a slash the man. But Axel had already flipped backward and back to his original spot with a smirk upon his features.

"Not bad Sora, but you'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me." he stated in a halfway mocking tone.

The brown-haired teen just narrowed her eyes on the man as she slowly stepped to the side. 'He's just testing me right now. So I can only assume he's waiting for me to achieve or prove something to him before he'll decide that I've 'passed'. Which means that I need to figure out what it is, before he feels I'm not up for the challenge.' she mused to herself, to which she readied to attack the waiting man in front of her.

'I'm assuming he's only testing my current strength, which means that I simply need to give it my all. Even if I can't remember how to use the power, I'll just need to try and do what I had when I originally activated it.' Sora continued in her mind before rushing toward her opponent, dragging her weapon across the floor as she went.

Of which just made Axel smirk lightly as he stayed completely still, yet remained fully on guard. However, just before the teen reached him, she quickly slid across the floor as if trying to stop. Yet before her momentum was lost, she slammed her Keyblade onto the ground and flipped herself up into the air. Upon doing this, Axel looked at her in slight shock as he hadn't expected her to do something like this. But he kept his guard up while Sora concentrated as much as she could while reaching the top of her jump.

This being directly above the red-haired man, to which the girl then flipped herself around and slashed at the air. Her action producing a large arch of darkness that flew toward Axel at great speed. The red head himself immediately jumped out of the way from the attack and then proceeded to prepare his own by dousing his Chakrams in fire. However, just as he was about to throw them, he quickly took notice of the sudden darkening on the floor under his feet.

As he turned to look, Axel saw the scratch on the floor made by Sora's Keyblade beginning to gain a black hue. But before he could move away, a thin pillar of dark energy erupted from the floor and consumed his body. Upon being hit by this, the man stumbled backward slightly as despite not being able to dodge, it wasn't powerful enough to really hurt him. Though, immediately following this attack, he quickly turned and saw Sora rushing at him from the side.

Axel merely smirk lightly in response to this as he just allowed the teen's slashing strike to hit him across the chest. "Clever girl." was all he muttered before vanishing instantly after the attack.

Once he was gone, the teen blinked a few times and looked around the area. While doing so, she found the same card the hooded man had given to Axel, it just laying on the floor in front of her. The teen knelt down briefly to pick it up and tilted her head to the side when seeing the picture upon it.

"Traverse Town? Again? But why?" she muttered silently while examining the card with a confused gaze.

"Wasn't I just there?" Sora continued, yet she slowly turned to the side when she heard Axel's voice.

"Indeed you were." he started, him standing off to the side with his arms crossed and back leaning against the wall.

"This is a 'game' we came up with for your stay here." Axel said while pushing himself away from the wall and uncrossing his arms.

"There are twenty six floors in this place, so we decided to split them up into twelve of the different worlds you've visited. Me and my colleagues are on the top floor and the main entrance doesn't require a card to reach, so we went with twelve. The first door allows you to relive your memory, while the second has you fight the Heartless to move further up. You're basically getting two for the price of one...you should be grateful." he stated with a shrug of his shoulders and small smirk upon his features.

However, Sora didn't bother to defend herself again since she figured out during their fight, that he could beat her easily if he really tried. Though, she still looked to him a bit suspiciously in response to his words, to which she turned her gaze back to the card. "But why? What's the purpose of sending me to these places twice?" the teen questioned as she looked to the door out in front of her.

"Well, you started off in the basement...and we weren't about to try and come up with a bunch of other worlds that you've never been to in order to give you a new world every floor. That would take too much time." Axel explained in a somewhat lackluster way as he took a few steps toward the teen.

"Besides, isn't it nice of us to separate the 'boss' from the rest of the journey?" he questioned, his smirk turning to one of mystery as it was clear he was hiding something.

"We're letting you rest between battles...isn't that nice of us?" the red head asked, his smirk remaining constant the whole time he spoke.

"So please...go and enjoy your next fight." he spoke silently, to which he bowed slightly and gestured to the door with both hands.

Sora glanced from him to the door as she narrowed her eyes slightly on the off white color of the doors' surface. It being clear that she was either in deep thought, or possibly hesitating out of fear of what could come next. However, Axel didn't bother to figure out which one it was as he soon appeared behind the teen and placed his hands upon her shoulders.

"But be forewarned. Once you start moving forward to reclaim what you lost...you may no longer be who you are now." was the last thing he said before suddenly vanishing, even as Sora turned to look at him.

Upon realizing that she was alone, the brown-haired girl slowly tilted her head down and closed her eyes. This making it clear that she had been in deep thought, rather than feeling hesitant about continuing on. Though, as she slowly opened her eyes, the teen made her way to one of the corners of the room. Her then leaning against one of the walls and slid down to sit as she tilted her head up.

'So then, in order to regain my abilities...I'll have to lose the memories I have of this place? Or possibly others, in order to compensate? Which means, the greater the ability...the greater the memory I must lose in return. But if I forget too many things, it won't matter how much power I regain.' she thought silently while letting out a heavy breath.

'Therefore, the best thing to do is to somehow try and learn things at a slow rate while developing them outside of the memories I'll be visiting. My guess is that each time I visit a memory, I'll be forgetting what happened once I step through the doors. So trying to learn anything inside of them would be a complete waste of time.' Sora mused while closing her eyes once more, yet kept them closed while continuing on with her thoughts.

'However, I'm sure that their intention is to slowly remove my original memory of the events as well. So I'll have to try and see if I can do something about that. I'm sure that there is something Merlin taught to me that I can use. I just need to remember it now while my memories are still mostly intact.' Sora contemplated, to which she cracked an eye open to gave a quick glace around the room as to make sure she wasn't being watched.

However, despite there not being a single person in sight, the brown-haired girl still felt as if someone was keeping an eye on her. 'They probably have some sort of magic that allows them to keep an eye on me no matter where I am in this place.' she thought before letting out a huff and closed her eye once more.

"Typical." the teen muttered aloud as she once again kept her eyes shut.

'But that also implies they'll know when I'm going to be training. So I'm gonna have to try and test to see what they'll catch on to. After all...I'm sure they don't intend on letting me get ahead of their 'game'. First...I'll try pretending to sleep while meditating, and see how long it takes for them to 'catch on'.' she continued as she took in and let out a slow, yet heavy breath.

'I wonder just how long it'll take me to relearn things though. When learning magic before, I had Merlin helping me every step of the way. But now...I don't have anyone's help and I'm barely even able to recall the basics thanks to how impatient I was in the beginning.' Sora mused while taking on a light pout on her features without even realizing it.

'He told me that there were two ways to learn magic; the first was to study how to naturally draw it out and the second is to have a spell transferred over from another person. I started off with the first method, but my eagerness got the best of me and I just had Merlin transfer his spells over to me. Even though I mastered them in no time, it's because of him that I was able to use magic in the first place.' she thought, her head tilting down as her eyes opened slowly.

"I guess I didn't realize just how much I relied on his help until now." the brown-haired girl muttered to herself with a heavy sigh.

'Oh well...I need to do this now so I can get out. Axel said that there was an 'entrance', which also means that it can be my exit. So I just need to hold out with this charade until I can reach the thirteenth level...or whatever floor the entrance is on.' she thought quickly as a small smirk curled her lips.

However, it soon became a bit twisted as her next thoughts reflected its change perfectly. 'Or maybe I should stick around and teach them a lesson about messing around with me. I'd make them regret ever meeting me before ending them slowly and painfully.'

However, her eyes soon widened as she shook her head and even hit her forehead with a fist. "No! I won't be like how I was before I met Kairi. I won't be 'that' kind of person again." she stated aloud while grinding her teeth slightly and tightly shutting her eyes.

'Everyone gave me another chance...so I won't allow myself to betray their trust. Just because I'm alone, doesn't mean I can slip back into how I had been. Kairi's counting on me after all.' Sora stated within her mind, yet since her eyes were closed, she didn't notice her own shadow flashing a set of yellow colored eyes before vanishing.

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 **There's some exposition for everyone. ;) What kind of person was Sora like before meeting Kairi? Why was she like that? And why in the world did this game have such a fixation on using cards?! Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed. Let me know what you thought in a review and until next time everyone.**


	3. Castle Oblivion part III

**Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 3: Castle Oblivion part III

Five hours had passed before Sora finally stood back up on her feet, to which she let out a heavy sigh of exhaustion. 'Man...this is taking so much longer than last time.' she thought to herself while stretching out her stiff limbs.

'I only managed to get the basic spells for Thunder and Reflect. I still can't figure out Fire or Blizzard, but I think if I can get the spell for Time again, I should be able to get through this place much easier.' the teen continued as she brought the card she got upon 'defeating' Axel out of her pocket.

'I hardly used it before, but it's an extremely handy spell for a 'beginner' like myself.' Sora mused, to which she slowly made her way up to the door that would allow her to progress.

"Lets just hope that the spells I have now are enough." she whispered to herself before walking through the doors when they automatically opened.

Though, just like before, Sora felt as if she was immediately going back out of the 'room' and to the next level. However, unlike the last time, she seemed to have a few other memories of what had occurred during the fight. Of which she could feel had been mildly taxing on her body as she moved somewhat sluggishly.

"How strange..." the teen muttered with a glance around the area as to make sure no one was around.

'...the previous time seemed more like it was a fading dream. But this time, it was as if I just simply forgot the details of a memory that happened a long time ago.' she continued in her mind, to which her eyes closed briefly in thought.

"I can actually remember a few bits and pieces now." Sora muttered quietly, yet quickly turned to the side as Axel's voice was heard.

"I suspect you would." he said in his usual tone, him leaning against the wall to the right.

"And why is that?" the brown-haired girl asked while turning toward him fully.

"Because, you chose to remember it." was all he responded with at first as he took on a small grin.

"The aspect of 'to find is to lose and to lose is to find' is part of the challenge you'll face. However, you'll get to choose what you'll forget...to a degree of course." the red head continued, him tilting his head to the side slightly while looking at the teen.

Whom raised a brow in question at his words, to which she glanced down in thought for a few moments once more. "So the reason why I forgot about what happened before was because it was something I wasn't interested in remembering." she muttered silently, earning a wider grin and nod from the man.

"That's right. It's a 'subconscious' decision, your mind alone is what will dictate which memories you'll forget...or even which ones you'll remember." Axel stated as he tapped the side of his head while saying his last few words.

Though this quickly made the girl blink a few times, her gaze quickly hardened upon him. "So I can forget certain memories in order to retrieve others?" she more of stated than asked, yet still received a nod in response.

"Of course...but how will you know what memories you'll need to get back...if you've already forgotten what they are?" the red-haired man questioned with a continuous grin on his features.

Sora gazed at him briefly before looking up in thought for a few moments, to which she slowly turned her gaze back toward Axel. The man looking at her with a somewhat expecting gaze, it being evident that he wanted to hear the 'right answer' from her. "If I can subconsciously decide what to forget, then I should be able to do the same to remember." she claimed as if declaring the solution to a difficult riddle.

The red head simply chuckled lightly and nodded slowly to her words, to which he crossed his arms. "Not bad Sora...it's just what I'd expect from the Keyblade Master." he responded, yet it was unclear if he was being honest or mocking her, as he seemed to always talk to her with the same tone.

"Well then, I suppose I had better let you move on." Axel continued while throwing the teen another blue card.

The girl quickly caught it and glanced over the picture on the surface; "Agrabah, huh?" she muttered silently, though by the time she looked away from the card, Axel was already gone.

Yet the teen just let out a breath, pocketed the card and walked over to one of the corners. She then sat down on the floor just like before and groaned silently. "Boy am I glad he didn't decide to pick a fight." she whispered to herself, to which she rubbed her eyes gently.

'Hmm, so I chose to remember the memory of the fight, but why? What happened that made me feel like I needed to keep myself from forgetting?' the brown-haired girl questioned in her mind while replaying the events of what happened within her mind in order to get some sort of clue.

After only a few moments, Sora's eyes snapped open as she brought a hand to her forehead. "I see...'that's' why." she whispered to herself before smirking lightly.

'Well, I had better take this time to train again...I have a feeling that I'll be fighting Axel or someone else pretty soon.' the teen mused silently, as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

'Who knows how many times I'll get to do this, so I better make this time count even more than before.' she continued, Sora clenching her hands into fists.

'From what I remember, I barely held my own against that Heartless. Which means that I need to get stronger if I'm ever to get through the rest of this castle.' Sora thought as her concentration could be seen in her expression, despite having her eyes closed.

However, as the hours passed, this slowly turned to frustration as the teen snapped her eyes open and breathed heavily. "Dang it!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing softly off the walls around her.

'I just can't seem to get the Time spell. That was another one that Merlin gave to me...and now I know why. It's so complex that simply getting a grasp of its nature is nearly impossible.' the brown-haired teen thought with a heavy sigh.

'I remember Merlin telling me that most Mages learn Time spells through the 'gift method'. But he did mention that there are a select few who managed to learn them through their own means, himself included. And also that each of them all went on to become extremely powerful Wizards and Witches.' she continued as her eyes slowly closed once more and she calmed her breathing.

'If I can do the same...maybe I could be just like them and become just as strong.' Sora mused with a small smirk on her features, the girl obviously excited about the possibility.

'But...we'll just have to see if I can not only grasp the spell of Time, but use it effectively in battle.' were her last thoughts before once again concentrating as much as possible on her mind, body and inner magic.

Though two more hours passed, it didn't appear as if Sora was making any sort of progress until a brief surge of strange energy surrounded her. This made her eyes open once more, yet unlike before, they were filled with determination instead of frustration. "I...I think I've almost got it." she muttered silently with a small grin curling her lips.

After her words, Sora then took in and let out a slow breath while standing up to her feet. 'Alright...I think I can do this. With a little bit of practice...I might be able to use the spell even better than when Merlin gave it to me.' she thought silently as her grin remained constant while walking up to the doors leading toward the next floor.

Upon going through and coming back out, the teen felt a mixture of accomplishment, yet disappointment at the same time. 'I progressed...yet not as far as I would have liked.' she thought to herself as she remembered most of what had happened in her memory of Agrabah.

However, this lead for her to tilt her head down in thought as her gaze hardened on the floor. "But then...what did I forget in return?" she whispered out, her tone sounding a bit worried as to what she could have lost.

"Well...you can always reclaim it, if that's what you're looking for." Axel muttered as he was checking his glove in the same way he would his nails.

The man being at the bottom of the stairs that lead toward the next door, yet he seemed almost bored at the moment. Which made Sora raise a brow and tilt her head to the side while walking toward him. "Wow...you don't sound as enthusiastic as before, something happen?" she asked in an actually concerned tone.

"Nah...just a few annoying things happening between me and my comrades." Axel responded, his tone showing that he was barely even thinking before speaking to the teen.

"Heh~? Sounds tough...though, I get the impression you don't really like them very much." Sora said with a sweat drop, her coming up within just a few feet of the man before stopping.

"Well, I'm sure that if I had a heart...I wouldn't." he claimed while smirking lightly and shrugging his shoulders.

"Huh? 'Had a heart'? What do you mean?" the brown-haired teen asked as she tilted her head to the side slightly in curiosity.

"Exactly that." was all Axel said at first before waving a hand to the girl and tossing another blue card into the air; "Well...you'll find out eventually."

Sora blinked to him a few times as she caught the card easily, to which she then sighed and nodding her head in response to his words. "Oh alright...but I'm definitely bringing it up later." she stated with a small smirk on her features, making the red head gain a similar expression.

"If you'd like." was all he muttered as he soon vanished in a wave of darkness, him letting out a light chuckle while doing so.

The teen looked up for a moment as her smirk remained upon her features, though it soon started to widen a bit. 'Ya know...I'm actually liking that Axel guy. He seems kinda cool.' she thought with a light giggle.

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 **Btw, just to let everyone know now; I'm going to start skipping floors, since most of this is going to get repetitive. Therefore, from this chapter on, whenever there is a 'training montage', I'm just going to elude to the amount of time it took and skip forward until something more interesting happens. However...I would suggest that all of you pay attention to the times of each one since it'll dictate just how strong the ability is when it's brought up at a later date. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who favored, alerted and reviewed for this story. I hope it will be a good enough follow up to the previous story and that you'll enjoy it just as much, if not more. Let me know what you thought of this chapter in review and until next time everyone.  
**


	4. Castle Oblivion part IV

**Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 4: Castle Oblivion part IV

Sora groaned silently as she stood up to her feet after having sat on the floor for an extended period of time. "Ugh...seven hours, and still so little progress with my magic." she muttered while stretching her limbs high over her head.

Many popping and cracking noises were heard coming from the teen's joints, to which she let out a heavy sigh. She then tilted her head from side to side, which produced a few more cracks as she then turned her gaze toward the door that lead to the next floor. 'I've gone through seven levels so far.' she thought to herself while walking forward.

'I've gone through Traverse Town, Agrabah and Duckburg completely. I just need to finish off the main Heartless in Atlantica and I'll have gotten through eight floors.' Sora continued before sighing and even whining silently.

"Ugh...this is taking forever. Even Axel knew this was gonna get boring and left me with all the cards I'd need to reach the twelfth floor." she muttered aloud, to which she paused in front of the large doors as she reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the blue cards.

'But...I suppose it's good that he's left me alone for the last three floors. Though, I did find out that the name of the other guy is; Marluxia. As well as the fact that there are still four other people besides them in this castle. I think it's still best for me to get some time alone at the moment. I need to develop my powers as quickly as possible after all.' the brown-haired girl thought as the doors began to open for her, to which the card disappeared.

'I've spent a total of five hours on my Thunder spells, another five hours on my Reflect spells and seven hours for my Time spells. But while I figured out the basics for the first two within the first hour, even to this point, my Time magic is barely managing to be on the same level as when Merlin originally gave it to me.' she thought while stepping forward and through the door.

"Lets hope I can start turning that around." the teen muttered aloud as she continued on.

Though she walked back through the other side soon after, Sora quickly noticed that she didn't feel very exhausted from the recent fight. This making her smirk lightly as she recalled the fact that she managed to used a Time spell correctly. 'Excellent...looks like all my training is actually starting to pay off.' she thought to herself, yet quickly looked forward as a large oval flood of darkness appeared in front of her.

Upon seeing this, the teen summoned her Keyblade quickly and narrowed her eyes on the person who came out. Whom appeared to be an older girl with bright, blonde hair and cyan-colored eyes. Her yellow locks were slicked back and about jaw-length, yet they had two long strands styled into distinctive antennae-like strands. The girl's clothing was similar to that of the other two she had encountered, however, her coat fitted closer to her form and the boots held semi-high heels.

"Hello there~!" the blonde announced in what seemed to be a highly mocking tone as she waved her hand.

"So how is the little heroine doing, huh? Behaving like a good girl?" she continued, her voice keeping up the same tone the whole time.

"And you are?" Sora questioned silently as her eyes narrowed on the older girl.

"Hmph...well if you must know, the name's Larxene. And I'll be your baby sitter for the next few levels." was the blonde's response as she took on a small, yet sadistic grin.

The brown-haired teen raised a brow for a moment, yet never dropped her guard as she tilted her head to the side slightly. "Why would you need to baby sit me? Don't I already have enough cards to make it to the twelfth floor?" Sora asked while keeping a firm grip on her Keyblade.

"Maybe you do, but Axel seems to be letting you relax too much...so I'm here to kick things up a notch!" Larxene declared as a surge of electricity coiled around her hands briefly.

"Is that so?" the younger teen muttered as she quickly took notice of the static the other teen produced, to which she just smirked lightly.

"And I'm guessing that involves surprise attacks?" the girl continued, her smirk widening slightly as she readied for the fight.

Larxene simply chuckled before producing four dagger-like weapons from either hand. These being rather oddly shaped, yet all shared the same yellow and blue coloring. She then crossed her arms to form an 'X' and grinned widely at the brown-haired girl. "As well as an attack right now!" she claimed before vanishing from sight.

"So don't go dying on me before I've had my fun." the blonde whispered directly in Sora's ear, to which the teen swung her weapon around at the spot Larxene had just been.

Once the teen saw that the blonde had disappeared again, she quickly ducked under a swinging kick intended for her head. This made the older girl blink briefly in surprise before continuing her attack by throwing all four daggers in one hand at Sora. But while each of them missed, the brown-haired teen immediately noticed that each of the small weapons moved at lightning-fast speeds. As well as the fact that the electricity surrounding them had instantly scorched the floor where they landed.

However, these daggers soon vanished and lead for new ones to appear in Larxene's hand just as she charged at Sora. Said girl quickly leaping out of the way before flipping to the side when a large bolt of lightning shot toward her. The brown-haired girl ground her teeth slightly as these attacks were happening so fast that she was only able to dodge.

'I gotta find a way to counter-attack.' she thought quickly while surrounding herself with a Reflera spell as a series of lightning bolts came crashing down at her all at once.

Yet the combined magic caused the shield to shatter without even being able to absorb the impact. Of which allowed Larxene to rush in toward Sora with her open hands rather than her daggers. But this just made the brown-haired teen smirk briefly as she immediately dismissed her Keyblade. 'Now's my chance!' she called out within her mind while dodging each of the blonde's attacks.

Upon doing so, Sora then grabbed one of Larxene's wrists and pulled her forward by using the older teen's own momentum. As she did this, the brown-haired girl then side-stepped to her left and gathered an orb of darkness in her free hand. Immediately after it reached the size of a Blitz ball, Sora shot it directly into the chest of her opponent. Whom was blown backward many feet as she then slammed hard against the wall behind her.

However, this hadn't been overly damaging to Larxene as she simply growled out in an obviously angry way. "Now you've done it." she muttered out as each of her knives reappeared within her hands.

"Now you've made me mad!" the blonde continued, to which her whole body was surrounded in lightning.

This making Sora narrow her eyes slightly as she resummoned her Keyblade, to which she once again readied to fight. 'It seems she's quick to anger...I might be able to use that to my advantage.' she thought quickly as both girls vanished from sight and reappeared in the center where both were shrouded in electricity.

Larxene briefly looked at this before her daggers connected with Sora's own weapon, to which a large wave of lightning flowed through the room. Immediately after this, they disappeared once again, only to reconnect in the same fashion several more times. Both of them seeming to be fully equal in terms of magical power, as each attack held the same amount of energy from either side. Yet due to her taller physique and greater physical strength, Larxene slowly but surely began overpowering the other teen.

Upon realizing this, the blonde started to grin once more, while Sora simply ground her teeth slightly in frustration. The brown-haired girl quickly realizing that she won't win in a battle of strength, to which her mind worked as fast as possible to come up with a solution. Of which only lasted for a few brief seconds, yet was long enough for Larxene to push her back many times after they clashed.

"Not able to keep up anymore, little girl?" the blonde questioned in a taunting tone.

However, after they clashed once more, the older teen quickly felt herself being pushed back. This shocking her for a brief moment, which was enough for Sora to immediately rush forward at even greater speed than before. The brown-haired teen girl now having a black aura under the electricity surrounding her body.

Yet Larxene hadn't seen this until it was too late as Sora slammed her Keyblade into the older teen's stomach with enough force to knock her into the wall once more. But unlike last time, the wall cracked under the pressure and made the blonde simply fall to the floor almost limply.

"Not able to keep up anymore, psycho girl?" the brown-haired girl asked with a small smirk on her features, her black aura staying constant around her.

Immediately following her words, Larxene slowly stood back up and growled in obvious anger and frustration. "You think you've got me beat?!" she started as a huge surge of electricity surrounded her and even filled the room.

Sora squinted from this as the lightning was slowly paralyzing her body, which lead for her to quickly bring a Reflera spell around herself. Though due to the intensity of the constant lightning, her shield quickly began to crack. But just before it was about to shatter, the attacks suddenly stopped, to which the teen then noticed Axel standing in front of Larxene.

"I told you not to break her." he stated in a somewhat firm tone, to which the blonde just huffed and turned to the side.

"Whatever...I knew what I was doing." she claimed before slowly looking over to Sora as she allowed her shield to drop.

"You were treating her too nicely, so I decided to show her what she's really up against." the blonde continued as she almost seemed to be ignoring the brown-haired girl, despite looking directly at her.

"If you have an objection to my methods, you can just come to me." Axel said while crossing his arms, his back remaining faced toward Sora.

Said teen looking between the two for a few moments as she took in a few deep breaths. 'That was some intense magic. Even with using my dark power, I couldn't completely protect myself from it. Maybe I should start focusing a bit more on enhancing my darkness since my magic is progressing too slowly.' she thought quickly to herself while still staring at the pair.

"If you insist, but I still intend on testing her further to make sure she won't slack off." Larxene stated to the red head, whom just sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine then...but I'm still in charge of her for the time being." Axel said, to which the blonde simply gave a nod and shrug before vanishing in a flood of darkness.

"Have it your way." were her last words while disappearing.

This lead for the red-haired man to slowly turn around and look at the brown-haired teen; "Having fun yet?" was all he asked as a small smirk curled his lips.

"Oh, most definitely." Sora said with a chuckle, which lead for Axel to do the same.

* * *

 **Alright, now that Larxene is in the picture, all of you are gonna get to see a few interesting little things about Sora. ;) I hope their little skirmish wasn't too disappointing since I was kinda cut short for time on this one. So I hope you all enjoyed and will let me know what you thought in a review. Until next time everyone.**


	5. Castle Oblivion part V

**Well, this is a bit later in the day than I would have liked...but it's still technically Saturday. Or...at least it is where I live. ^^' Anyway, this is a bit of longer chapter than usual, but I feel that the ending bit was necessary to have. ;) Now then, onto the show~!**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 5: Castle Oblivion part V

Floor after floor, memory after memory. Sora continued to move through the castle as if it had become a daily routine. Her schedule was now filled with sleeping within her memories while training between each one. Though the latter only occurred after fighting with Larxene, of which had become a recent addition for the last four levels.

Yet their fights varied in terms of time, Axel having to step in every other floor to prevent the blonde from going too far. However, the most recent battle had been more of the red-haired man preventing Larxene from possibly being overpowered. The younger teen having spent three hours training her dark powers on each of the four recent floors. This allowing her to quickly close the distance in their strengths as Sora's affinity for darkness was far greater than even her magic.

'I'm kinda surprised, but I guess so long as I don't let myself get out of control...I think using my darkness could be a really helpful power against these guys.' the teen thought to herself while looking up at the ceiling.

The brown-haired girl having just fought against Larxene and was simply relaxing on the floor of the twelfth level. 'I guess since I only have one more boss fight to get through before the exit, I guess I should try and retrace my steps from before I came here.' she continued silently as her eyes slowly closed.

But as she recalled her memories previous to entering the castle, she started to catch small pieces that she couldn't seem to fully remember. However, Sora then just shook her head and began thinking about each of her friends in order to be sure that she hadn't forgotten any of them. 'Kairi, Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and Na-' she began in her mind, to which her eyes soon snapped open as she couldn't finish the last person's name.

"Wait...d-did I forget one of my friends?" Sora uttered allowed as her head tilted down in deep thought.

"Nami..." she continued, yet shook her head once more as she couldn't remember their name, nor even what they looked like.

"Who was it that I forgot?" the teen whispered, her tightly shutting her eyes as if to try and visualize this forgotten friend.

Yet the person whom slowly began to appear in her mind, was someone she both did and didn't recognize. This figure was that of a girl around Sora's age with long blond hair, a plain, white, lace dress and light blue sandals. Her eyes appeared to be blue in color, yet they, along with her face reminded the brown-haired teen of Kairi.

'Namine.' Sora thought as the girl's image became fully clear to her.

Immediately after thinking this name, the teen's eyes opened once more and she hung her head down as if in shame. "I...I forgot one of my own friends?" she muttered aloud, her guilt being very clear within her tone.

However, within moments, Sora blinked a few times as she quickly turned toward the door. 'Wait a second...why would I be forgetting just one of my friends? That doesn't make any sense.' she thought while a suspicious gaze was visible in her eyes.

'And how come I'm only now remembered her? I don't ever recall thinking about her before I came to this place. So how could it be that I'm suddenly remembering someone whom I don't even have any memory of?' the teen continued as she slowly stood herself up, yet leaned her back against the wall behind her.

'Something is very strange about all of this. Unless...' Sora began in her mind, her slowly tilting her head up to look at the ceiling once more.

'...it's part of the whole 'to find is to lose and to lose is to find' thing. Which means that I've forgotten more than I expected and am now getting some memories back due to forgetting about other ones.' she finished, to which Sora then brought her gaze back down to the door ahead.

"Even then...it's too far fetched and suspicious. I'm getting out of here whether they like it or not." the brown-haired teen stated aloud as she walked up to and through the slowly opening doors.

Once she made it through to the other side, Sora let out a breath and stretched her arms over her shoulders. "Well that was fun." she muttered silently while entering into a new room.

Though it was clear that this one was different as it far darker than the rest and it didn't appear to have any other way in or out. Upon seeing this however, Sora narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced around with a hard gaze. Yet her eyes soon landed upon the hooded figure she had first met when appearing inside the castle.

"So you got me all the way to the thirteenth floor and now what? Do you plan on doing something to me now that I've grown stronger since the beginning?" Sora asked with a slightly raised brow.

"It's the whole reason why you set things up with my memories in the first place, right? You knew that once I came to this place, I'd forget all of my abilities and how to use my powers. So you strategically set up my memories the way you did in order to help me to grow more powerful. But for what reason did you do that?" she questioned further as the man just stood there quietly for a few moments.

After these seconds passed, he slowly brought his hands up. This made Sora summon her Keyblade and take on a defensive pose, just in case. But she didn't need to bother as he merely removed his hood, to which a few sakura petals seemed to fall from it. Though this also revealed Marluxia to be a rather handsome man with shoulder-length, spiky, rose-pink hair. His eyes were blue in color, yet they seemed to hold a coldness in them that made the teen on edge.

"It seems you've figured out much on your way up here. But I'm afraid that I cannot tell you the answers to your questions. If you wished to know more, perhaps you should have been more willing to forget your memories in order to discover the information." Marluxia stated as a small smirk curled his pink lips.

Sora simply chuckled silently to this, yet she kept her defensive pose as she didn't want to be taken off guard. "Yeah right...I'm pretty sure that half of what you've said about the 'to find is to lose and to lose is to find' is made up. There is no reason for me to gain memories or information completely out of no where when I haven't experienced or learned it for myself. That's not how the mind works." she began as her shadow on the already dark floor began to grow blacker.

Marluxia smirked wider in response as he merely shrugged his shoulders to the teen's claims. "Believe what you will, but there is truth in the memories you have gained." he said while walking to the side.

"And how would you know if I've gained any memories?" Sora demanded as she knew they were monitoring her, yet didn't think they could have know such things.

The pink-haired man chuckled softly to her, him continuing to walk to the side in a slow and soundless manner. This making the teen shift herself around in unison with him, her wanting to keep Marluxia in front of her at all times.

"How could you not, when the things you've gained have not added up to the amount of things you've lost?" was the man's answer, his tone sounding as if he knew things would come to this point since the start.

"Is that so? And I suppose you also know what it is that I've remembered?" Sora questioned in a rather sarcastic, yet testing voice as she obviously didn't believe him in the slightest.

"Why of course I do." Marluxia began, his smirk turning to a confident and almost cocky smile.

"It's quite unfortunate that you had forgotten Namine. But I'm sure that she would understand, since you lost your memory once before when you were young." he continued, causing Sora's eyes to widen in shock.

"It was after that 'incident' on the island, right?" Marluxia asked in a rhetorical manner, his smile remaining on his features the whole time.

However, Sora herself had become very wide-eyed as she took a step back. The teen's body language and expression showing clearly that she was fighting off the urge to just run away. This had caused the pink-haired man to take on a brief devious grin as he simply carried on with his words.

"You were playing with your friends in the trees and you decided to challenge Riku to a fight. Yet when you lost your footing, you fell out of the tree and grabbed onto the first thing you could to prevent your fall. Which happened to be Namine's ankle." he stated as the brown-haired teen shut her eyes, her trying not to remember the details of what happened.

But this only worked in the man's favor, him stepping closer and closer to the teen as he continued on. "You dragged her down to the ground with you and suffered a terrible blow to your head. It caused you to forgot many things, including your friends or family. However...Namine was hurt far more and had even been hospitalized for months before she awoke."

"Though...I'm sure we both know that it wasn't the blow to your head that caused you to forget, now was it?" he questioned with an almost cruel smirk curling his lips.

Yet it was the following whisper Marluxia spoke in her ear that made her eyes snap open; "It was your guilt."

The second he said this, Marluxia instantly vanished as Sora swung her weapon toward him in a fury. "Shut up!" she screamed out in anger while glaring at the man.

"Of course I felt guilty about getting her hurt! But I didn't remember it until I finally got my memories back!" she claimed as her eyes quickly turned yellow in color, despite the fact that there were tears welling up in them.

"Oh yes, of course...but are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" the man questioned from the side as he took on an amused expression on his features.

"Shut up!" Sora repeated as she began to feel too much anger from the man's words to question the truth of the story.

"What's wrong? Too ashamed to admit that you only forgot what happened because you couldn't stand the fact that it was because of you Namine almost died? That it was because of you she ended up moving away during your amnesia?" Marluxia asked with a great amount of amusement in his tone, which only made the girl angrier.

"I apologized!" the teen screamed out as a dark aura began to surround her in an untamed fury.

"Oh yes...but coming from someone who couldn't even remember what they were apologizing for, who would accept it?" the man more or less stated, his smirk widening as he watched how the teen's own darkness was starting to overwhelm her.

"But I...I..." was all Sora managed out as she was beginning to feel disoriented.

"You did nothing...save for realizing how pathetic you were in letting yourself fall victim to losing your memories. Which was why you felt that you needed to take on a different persona to save you from the guilt." Marluxia said, him saying it as if it were a complete fact.

"That's...That's not true...I..." the brown-haired girl started, her mind becoming fuzzy as her memories didn't feel entirely right.

"I became like that because I..." she continued, yet soon began to stumble slightly.

"...because I..." was the last thing the teen spoke before she collapsed on the floor, quickly losing consciousness.

"Perfect, once she awakens...her guilt will be the key to driving her further through the castle. Now all we need is to wait for the others to arrive." Marluxia spoke as Axel, Larxene and three other figures appeared in the room around him.

"I'm going to enjoy watching Namine twist this brat's memories around." Larxene muttered with a small, yet devious grin on her features.

"How did you get her to faint like that?" Axel questioned with a slightly raised brow.

"Simple...I used her emotions as a catalyst to a spell I had Zexion place in this room. It would enhance whatever sentiment she felt to the point that her brain could no longer process it and end up passing out." the pink-haired man explained with a small smirk curling his lips once more.

"I'm not entirely proud of such a low brow spell...but as long as it served its purpose." Zexion spoke as he removed his hood.

This revealing his bright aqua colored eyes, but only his left one was visible, as the right was covered by his long, layered bangs. His hair itself was steel-blue in color, yet was long in the front and quite a bit shorter in the back.

"Exactly...now lets get a move on, those imbeciles will be arriving within the hour." one of the other men spoke out as he lowered his own hood.

Him being a rather tall man with long platinum blond hair, which had bangs that framed his face. He also had rather large, bright green eyes that looked to each of the other occupants in the room. "I would rather get her to the start of the next level before they get here." he continued in a rather intelligent voice.

"Yeah yeah...whatever so say Vexen." Larxene muttered as she picked up Sora's limp body and headed toward the far wall.

Of which suddenly flashed a bright white light and vanished to reveal a hidden stair case. She then carried the unconscious teen up these stairs, to which Vexen followed after her while declaring that she was being disrespectful of his rank.

"I'll follow them to make sure that they don't cause any more damage." came the deep voice of the only person whom had their hood still up.

"Please do, Lexaeus." Marluxia said silently with a nod, to which he glanced over to Axel.

Said man being the only one not leaving the room as Zexion soon followed after Lexaeus up the stairs. "Something you'd like to add?" was the pink-haired man's question as he raised a brow.

"Just one thing." Axel started with a small smirk on his features; "Now, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...but..."

Upon these words Marluxia raised a brow to the man as he didn't like the tone the red-head was using. "...you looked a little scared when you saw her eyes change just now." Axel more or less claimed, which earned a heavy glare from the pink-haired man in front of him.

* * *

 **And there you have it, I didn't feel there was any need to 'lead up to' this whole thing very much since most of it would have been 'off screen' from Sora. Which would have meant taking extra chapters to focus on the Organization members. And while that sounds interesting, it would have been nothing but a lot of talking, and I'm sure no one likes a bunch of chapters of nothing but people standing around talking...no matter how amusing some moments might be. Anyway, do hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and liked the small piece of Sora's history. Let me know what you thought in a review and until next time.**


	6. Castle Oblivion part VI

**A quick word before the chapter; thank you to all whom have reviewed for this story and letting me know what you have thought about each chapter thus far. I truly appreciate each and every one of them greatly. Now then...onto the chapter.**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 6: Castle Oblivion part VI

Sora snapped her eyes open and immediately jumped to her feet upon her consciousness returning. Though, due to the sudden rush of blood going to her head, she quickly fell backward. But this quickly lead for her to take in and let out a few breaths, to which she rubbed her eyes in order to focus.

"Ugh...what happened?" she muttered as her mind felt very muggy and couldn't seem to recall anything at the moment.

However, after just a few seconds, a flood of memories came rushing back to her all at once. These being what had taken place on the previous floor, which caused Sora to tightly close her eyes and grind her teeth in anger. "That damn pink haired little..." she started silently in a growl.

But as she slowly reopened her eyes, she finally took notice of the fact that she was in a different room from the one she had passed out in. The teen quickly glanced around to try and get an understanding of her surroundings, yet her mind was too preoccupied to take anything in. Her continuing to think about the memory Marluxia forced her to remember, but even more so about the friend she had forgotten.

'Namine, I'm sorry that I forgot about you. I didn't mean to...honest.' she thought silently to herself, to which she tilted her head down as if in shame.

'Though, even now I still can't remember everything that happened before that day. Nor can I recall very much about her.' Sora continued as her hands clenched into fists.

"I...I need to get my memories back." she whispered while looking at the large doors directly ahead of her.

Upon looking at them, she noticed a blue card placed at the foot of these doors just waiting for Sora to pick up. This made her let out a silent breath as the teen took a step forward; 'Looks like they're not bothering to use those cards as an excuse to 'visit' me. I guess it'll be all business from this point on.' she mused, her taking a few steps closer to the door.

Yet just as she was about to pick the card up off the floor, she suddenly paused and turned around when she felt something behind her. As she did, the fist thing the teen noticed were the huge doors that obviously lead outside of the castle. Them being many times larger than any of the others she had seen and were designed with a point at the top, unlike all the square-shaped ones before.

Sora looked at them for a moment as she could feel something or someone approaching from the other side. "Strange...I haven't been able to sense other people to this degree before, so why now?" she muttered aloud with a slightly raised brow.

'But who are they? Since I haven't felt the presence of others like this, I don't know how to identify them. I can't tell if they're friend or foe.' the brown-haired girl continued in her mind.

"It's best I don't stick around to find out, the last thing I need is for a bunch more of those people in cloaks to show up and make all this even more difficult." Sora said as she quickly turned around and rushed forward.

'I don't know what'll happen to me the further up I go, but at the very least...I need to get my memories of Namine back or I've failed her as a friend.' she stated inwardly while picking up the card and opening the door to go through.

"I'll prove that I can still be a good friend." the teen claimed as the doors closed behind her.

However, just a few seconds later, the entrance doors to the castle slid open. This revealing Riku, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey as they each slowly came inside in a silent manner. Though it didn't seem to matter as they quickly heard the sudden sliding of the wall to the side. It showing the way down to the lower levels of the castle as each of the four swiftly turned toward it.

Though, they immediately looked back to the front of the room as they heard a voice originating from there. "Ah...the mouse king and his lackeys. What brings each of you here to Castle Oblivion?" Marluxia asked as he was standing in front of the doors Sora had gone through.

"That's none of your business!" Riku claimed as he summoned his weapon and readied to fight, him not trusting the man whatsoever.

"Yeah! Just get out of our way or things will get ugly!" Donald declared, him bringing out his magic staff and pointed it directly at the pink-haired man.

Yet Mickey quickly held his hand out to prevent the two from starting a fight, to which he looked at Marluxia with slightly narrowed eyes. "We're here to find a friend or ours, so we'd appreciate it if you didn't try to stop us." he said while bringing forth his silver-colored Keyblade.

"Hmph...I wouldn't dream of it." was all Marluxia started with as he simply shrugged his shoulders; "But if it's Sora you're searching for, you best not. She's here looking for a long lost friend and will stop at nothing to get to them. So I would suggest for you to stay out of her way or things will...well...as you put it, ugly."

Upon saying these words, he gave a brief glance over to Donald and simply smirked lightly to the expression of frustration the duck showed. But his claim immediately drew the attention of Riku as he took a few steps forward and narrowed his eyes heavily on the man. "Where is she? And what have you done to her?!" he demanded with a light growl in his voice.

"She is heading up...or possibly down." Marluxia said, him pointing at the ceiling and then the floor, all while keeping his gaze on each of the four.

"It's hard to keep track of everything that goes on in this place." he muttered in an almost mocking tone, which made each of the others glare at him in response.

"But as for what I've done to her...I've merely set her on the path to finding something very precious to her." he continued with another, yet wider smirk on his features.

"You're welcome to go after her, but I doubt she'll be very willing to leave right away." the pink-haired man finished before vanishing into the darkness.

This made each of the four look from this before over to one another, each of them thinking about what they should do next. Though their thoughts were broken when a voice was heard behind them, yet this was one they were familiar with. "Um...guys, can I come in yet?"

"Yeah...the coast is clear." Riku responded, to which he and the others stepped aside to allow Kairi to walk inside the castle.

"Honestly, why are you guys being so protective? I learned a whole bunch of magic from Merlin, I'm pretty sure that I can handle myself to a degree." the auburn-haired girl said with a light huff and pout.

"We know that, but Sora asked me to take care of you...so I don't want to put you at any sort of unnecessary risks." Riku said with a clearing of his throat afterward.

Kairi simply sighed to this, yet she slowly nodded her head in understanding. "Oh alright, but I do want to do my part in finding Sora too you know. She's 'our' best friend, so I want to show that I can be in the same league as the two of you." she claimed with a small smirk curling her lips.

Though, the silver-haired boy slowly gave a sheepish smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Actually...I'm pretty sure we're both gonna have to do a lot of catching up in order to reach 'her' level." he said silently, to which Kairi chuckled lightly with a nod in agreement.

"You got that right. I doubt either of us could defeat a guy like that Ansem fellow." the girl added, her and Riku letting out a unified sigh slight discouragement.

"But she didn't do it alone." Mickey suddenly chimed in as he looked to the two with a small smile.

"She had Donald and Goofy at her side, as well as both of you within her heart. There was no way she'd lose with all of you helping her out." he continued, to which the two teens blinked a few times before slowly nodding their heads in agreement.

"Now then...since we don't know which way Sora went, we're gonna have to split up in order to check every part of the castle." the mouse king started as he seemed to have put much thought into his decision.

"But couldn't we just stick together to check each floor down and then come all the way back up? Or the other way around?" Goofy questioned while tilting his head to the side.

"Yes, but we'd run the risk of her having gone in the opposite direction. Which means that she could end up leaving this castle long before we'd find find out and then have to go searching all over again." Mickey explained as he then brought his hands out.

"If we search both at the same time, we're bound to find her no matter what." he continued, to which he moved one hand upward and the other downward as if to symbolize their two groups.

"But since we have five people, one group will only have two in it." the mouse finished as he glanced around to everyone, him seeming to wait for them to decide who will go with whom.

"Well...I think we shou-" Riku began, yet he was immediately cut off as Kairi spoke up.

"I'll go with Donald and Goofy." was all the girl said as her tone seemed very firm, which surprised each of the others.

"W-What? But Kairi..." the silver-haired boy started, but quickly stopped when the auburn-haired teen gave him a smile.

"There are a lot of things I still have to ask them about their adventure with Sora. After hearing all about your travels, I wanna know more about hers. So I'll go with them to the top floor while you and King Mickey search the bottom floor." Kairi said before giving her friend a thumbs up as if mirroring something that Sora would do.

"Don't worry about us Riku, we'll be just fine. Lets all meet back here with Sora in hand, alright?" she continued, to which each of the others slowly gave a small smile in response before nodding.

"Yeah...then we'll really start our adventure, just like we promised." Riku added as they each brought their hands in the center to be placed atop one another.

Though a brief second later, the two groups rushed on their way. The first of Kairi, Donald and Goofy went right for the door Sora had gone through. While the second of Riku and King Mickey ran down into the secret stair case on the right side of the room. But after they had all left the hall, a lone hooded figure stood in the center in a completely mute manner until they spoke.

"Will they find their friend, only to lose something greater? Or will they lose their friend, only to find something more?"

* * *

 **There we have it, I hope everyone is still enjoying. Let me know in a review of what you thought and have an awesome day. Until next time everyone.**


	7. Castle Oblivion part VII

**Nothing to say other than that I hope you enjoy. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 7: Castle Oblivion part VII

Three levels, and Sora had yet to interact with a single person in the entire castle. This made her start feeling somewhat disheartened as she sat down on the floor with a heavy sigh. "Man...it feels like I'm traveling through the Realm of Darkness all over again." she muttered silently to herself.

'Though...it does seem a bit different since I actually expect to see someone eventually.' the teen continued in her mind while slowly closing her eyes.

'It feels a bit more lonely now, but I can always just go back to the entrance at any time. Once I get all of the memories of Namine back...I'll just turn around and leave.' she thought, to which Sora then started to focus her mind.

'I didn't bother training the last few levels, so I had better start again since I doubt these guys are just going to let me leave. But at least I am starting to remember things.' the girl mused as a small smirk curled her lips while her focus deepened.

However, within just a few minutes, two pairs of foot steps could be heard approaching her. This made Sora snap her eyes open, flip to the side, and summon her Keyblade while taking a fighting stance. But when she saw only Riku standing there, she blinked her eyes many times in response. "Huh?" was all she let out while slowly relaxing her body.

"Hey Sora, it's been a while." Riku began with a small, yet almost cocky smirk and tone.

The brown-haired teen blinked many more times at the boy as she looked him over man times in utter confusion. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, allowing her Keyblade to disappear in the mean time.

"To look for you...but it looks like you're already on your own quest, huh?" the silver-haired teen responded as he crossed his arms.

"You're looking to reclaim some memories about Namine? Hmph...it figures that you'd completely miss the whole reason why you should be trying to reach the highest point in this castle." he continued in a firm tone now, his eyes narrowing slightly on his friend.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked while taking a slow step forward.

"It's Namine, Sora...she's here. She's on the top floor." Riku claimed, causing the brown-haired teen's eyes to widen heavily in response.

"W-What?!" she all but demanded, yet quickly had to summon her Keyblade once more in order to block a sudden attack from her friend.

Him having brought forth his own weapon and slashed at her head with great force, to which he just smirked at the girl. "So typical of you...only focusing on the things you want and forgetting all about everyone else." the boy stated as if he were speaking a fact.

Sora's eyes widened slightly from this as she immediately had to deflect a thrusting attack from Riku. Though, she soon narrowed her gaze on her 'friend' and shook her head quickly; "That's not true...not anymore!" she said in a very firm tone, yet it sounded more as if she was merely attempting to convince herself.

All the while, the Sora continued to block and deflect many more slashes Riku sent toward her. His speed seeming to be the same since the last time she had fought with him before his encounter with Ansem. Yet after locking blades one more time, the boy smirked lightly to her and pushed forward while speaking his next words.

"Is that so? Then why didn't you realize that Namine was here? Why haven't you realize that the reason why you lost your memories was because of-" Riku began, but was cut short when a dark portal appeared to the side of them and revealed Vexen.

"Now now...no time for chatting. You must test Sora's strength so that our deal can continue." the man stated with a small smirk on his features, to which he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Hmph...you got it." Riku whispered as his body was engulfed in a brief surge of dark energy.

This quickly disbursed to reveal the same outfit the silver-haired teen wore when he had been possessed by Ansem. Though Sora narrowed her eyes to this, she soon fixed her gaze on Vexen. "And you are?" she questioned while pushing Riku back as their blades were still locked.

"I am Vexen, number four within the Organization!" he claimed in a proud manner, him smirking widely as he spoke.

"The 'Organization' you say?" the brown-haired girl muttered as she blocked Riku's quick slash toward her stomach with a burst of darkness from her free hand.

"Tch! You treating me like I'm an afterthought or something?!" the silver-haired boy demanded angrily as he surrounded himself in black energy and charged toward his opponent.

However, Sora just turned to him and gave a small smile while catching his blade with her bare hand. This shocked both Riku and Vexen, yet the girl simply continued to smile to the former as she spoke. "Of course not...we're going to tag up and beat this guy together, right?"

The boy blinked to her in response as he couldn't help but just stare at the teen for a few moments. "W-What? Why would I do that?" he questioned quickly, his eyes narrowing heavily.

"Hmm? Why?" Sora echoed back with a confused tone and expression, yet had regained her smile soon after.

"It's why you told me all those things to begin with, right? You're only pretending to follow his orders so that you can kick his butt later, so why don't we just get it done and out of the way?" she all but stated as a small grin curled her lips.

As the girl said all this however, Riku just blinked many more times in response since he couldn't help but give a small smile. Despite not being accurate, it had been something that crossed Riku's mind. Yet, this moment wouldn't last as Vexen summoned a large shield within his left hand. The defensive weapon itself was shaped like an upside-down teardrop with two oval chunks taken out of each side.

The top of the shield was lined by four small spikes and a fifth, larger one in the middle, all of which were blue in color. The edges were silver with the face being mostly blue, though the bottom tip appeared to be more of a sky blue. There was also an upside-down, triangle marking on the top of the shield, a "V" shape in the middle, and an inside edge along the top that all shared this sky blue color.

"Well now, I hadn't anticipated you to be 'this' strong...but it seems that I'll have to test your strength myself." Vexen claimed as he took a few steps closer to Sora.

Whom had glanced toward Riku and gave another small smile; "So...wanna help me out with this guy?"

The silver-haired boy just smirked coldly to her and readied his weapon to fight against the girl. "Hmph, I don't think so." he stated as both of the males took a step forward to ready their attack on the brown-haired teen.

Said girl had just sighed and shrugged her shoulders; "Well...alright, but I'm still gonna ask for the next guy." she stated with a small grin and wink to Riku.

Though, as Vexen let out a light chuckle in response to this, his eyes quickly widened in shock as Sora suddenly vanished. Her instantly appearing behind both of her opponents with her whole body covered in a dark aura. Along with this, the teen's skin had begun to turn black in tribal-like tattoos across her body. All the while, she readied her blade to the side with a slow movement as if giving the pair time to turn around. Yet in the same instant they had done just this, Sora swung her Keyblade at them and immediately filled the room to the brim with darkness.

But while very little could be seen, Vexen's screams were still heard before all fell silent. This also brought an end to the overwhelming darkness as only Riku and Sora remained in the room. The former looking around quickly in a bit of a panic as he was nervous about fighting alone at this point. Him being so preoccupied by this notion that he didn't bother to question why Sora hadn't seemed to try and hurt him in the first place.

"Sorry about that, it looks like he got away." the brown-haired girl began with a heavy sigh and shrug.

"He used his shield to deflect most of my attack to the sides, then calculated a route of escape before using one of those dark portals to get away." she continued, to which she let out another sigh while looking to Riku.

"Guess he was pretty smart after all, huh?" Sora questioned as she shrugged her shoulders once more.

"So then...I'm guessing it's my turn?" Riku all but demanded as he faced her quickly and entered his usual fighting pose.

"Hmm? Of course not...I'm just trying to break his hold on you. I'm sure that whatever deal he's offering you, he's not planning to deliver anyway. So it's best to get him out of the way so that you can use your own strength to get what you want, right?" the brown-haired girl responded as she smiled softly to him once more.

Riku blinked many times to her, though he quickly turned away and ran off toward the next door. Him immediately vanishing within a dark portal that appeared in his path, to which it disappeared along with him. This causing Sora to start blinking now as she tilted her head to the side; "Huh...Well, I guess that is his way of saying 'thank you'." she muttered silently as her smile remained for a few moments.

However, it slowly began to fade as the teen tilted her head down in deep thought. 'So Namine is here? But how? Why? And if he already knew that, then why isn't he trying to save her? Or maybe that's what his deal with Vexen is? Which would make sense I suppose.' she continued within her mind, to which her eyes closed.

'But I suppose now it does make sense of why Marluxia knew so much, despite the fact that he couldn't have gotten all of that information from my side of what occurred. Though I am curious as to why none of those guys would actually tell me that she's here. Unless...their aim was for me to never find out so that they could keep her here for whatever reason they need her for.' Sora mused while tapping her chin a few times, all while the darkness around her faded along with the black marking on her skin.

'Though, thinking about it...I've gone through three floors with the intent of remembering things about Namine, yet I still haven't remembered very much. And even from what I do remember, it's all distorted and I can't really tell what's going on.' the girl thought as she let out yet another heavy sigh.

"I wonder if that's why she kinda looks the same age in all my memories." she muttered aloud silently, yet upon doing so, her eyes widened as if in some huge realization.

'Wait a second...' she started in her mind, yet quickly turned to the side as the doors from the previous floor began to open.

* * *

 **Alright, now that 'that' introduction is out of the way, lets find out how things will progress from here. ;D I hope all of you are enjoying, let me know in a review. And lets aim for getting over five this time, that'll put us at an average of four per chapter. ^^ Anyway, until next time.**


	8. Castle Oblivion part VIII

**Aw man, only three reviews last chapter? Well, I guess I asked for it since it is pretty rude to ask for reviews as a number rather than a way to receive feed back. So, sorry about that. I hope this chapter makes up for it. ^^'  
**

* * *

 **Alright, now if all goes according to the plan I've set out for this part of the story...we should be nearing the halfway point. I know that the whole 'starting at the entrance' part was supposed to seem like the 'middle', but in terms of story, 'this' is where the middle starts to become visible. ;) You'll see why at the end. Anyway, onto the story~! ^^**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 8: Castle Oblivion part VIII

As the doors slid open, Sora narrowed her eyes and readied for another possible fight. The teen keeping her Keyblade firmly in hand, to which she shifted to the side slightly. 'I'm glad that I didn't expend any more than forty percent of my power after that brief fight with Vexen. I thought I was gonna beat him with that much, but at least I should have enough for whatever is coming.' she thought quickly to herself as a single figure stepped through the doors.

Yet due to the light behind them, only their outline was visible for a few moments. However, it was in these brief seconds that two more heads seemed to sprout from the being's body. It looking like a freakish creature that had three sets of legs, judging by the sound of its foot steps. This making Sora blink many times as she felt a mixture of excitement of what the being looked like, and fright for the same reason.

But it didn't take the teen long to eventually turn around and start screaming quite girlishly. Her immediately running to the next set of doors in order to reach the next level for her escape. Sora's mind just repeating; 'It's gonna eat me!' over and over again as she ran.

Though, she quickly paused when a familiar voice echoed behind her; "Sora?"

Immediately after turning around, the brown-haired girl blinked once more as Kairi, Donald and Goofy came up toward her. This causing Sora to feel another mixture of emotions. Shock and happiness for seeing the three, as well as embarrassment for how she reacted to simply seeing their silhouettes in a single-file line.

"K-Kairi...Donald...Goofy." she whispered while slowly walking toward the trio, whom were all smiling softly at the girl.

"I'm glad we found you." Kairi said as the two teens quickly hugged one another once they were close enough.

"So am I. I'm both surprised and glad you're here." Sora responded, to which she grinned widely at the three.

"Well...we weren't about to let you just go running off before we've had our true adventure." the auburn-haired girl stated with her own grin and wink.

Sora chuckled lightly to this, to which she shrugged and nodded slowly while she and Kairi separated. "So true...though that does make me wonder, just how long have I been gone?" she questioned, her eyes blinking in wonder and confusion.

Despite Kairi glancing toward Donald and Goofy, the two just nodded their heads to her as if to say that it would be okay to tell Sora he truth. This lead for the girl to turn back to her friend once more and offer a somewhat sheepish smile. "Almost a month and a half."

Upon these words, Sora blinked many more times as she silently whistled; "Wow...that's a bit longer than I was expecting. I guess that makes sense though. It does feel like I've been in this castle for almost two weeks now." she muttered, mainly to herself while glancing around.

"You've been here for 'that' long'?" Goofy asked in surprise, him also taking a look at their surroundings as if imagining such a thing.

"Hmm...I more surprised that you haven't left out of boredom yet." was all Donald muttered while shrugging his shoulders and crossing his feathered arms.

Sora simply pouted toward him with a brief huff; "That's mean. I don't just leave a place because I'm bored." she stated firmly, despite the fact that Kairi could fully attest to the opposite.

"Right~, so then..." Donald started once more as he took on a small, yet rather teasing grin; "...that was quite the scream you made."

Upon his words, the brown-haired teen immediately blushed deeply and groaned in her embarrassment. Yet the other three just chuckled in response to this for a few moments as the girl's reaction was exactly as they expected. Though, Kairi soon patted her friend on the shoulder and gave a small smile; "Anyway, we should get moving." she said with a quick wink.

Just as Sora looked to her and opened her mouth to speak, she quickly paused with a thoughtful gaze in her eyes. "I...I can't." she started quietly as she briefly averted her eyes from her friends.

"At least not yet." the teen continued while slowly turning back to the three, each of whom looked at her with a waiting expression.

"There is something in this place that I need to figure out, so I need to keep moving further up. But after reaching the top, I should have all the answers by that time so we can leave after that." Sora finished, her glancing between her three friends with a hopeful gaze.

Despite Kairi looking over to Donald and Goofy, it was clear that they had all decided on their answer a while ago. Though when the auburn-haired girl turned back to her friend with a soft smile, Sora couldn't help but return this expression. "If that's what you want to do, then we'll support you all the way." was the response Kairi gave.

"Thanks you guys." the brown-haired teen said silently as her smile widened, to which each of the turned to the door leading forward and headed through it.

Upon walking through to the other side, each of the four continued a conversation about one of Sora's journeys with Donald and Goofy. Yet after a brief glance out in front of them, each of the four quickly narrowed their eyes when Larxene was seen waiting for them. "Well well well...looks like the little Heroine is getting some help from her friends." the blonde muttered in a heavily mocking tone.

"Yeah, so? Maybe you'd be better if you tried the same thing." Sora stated with a small, yet slightly cocky smirk on her features.

"But I'm sure for someone with your type of attitude, you probably don't even have any friends." the girl continued as her tone soon matched her expression.

These comments caused Larxene to immediately glare heavily at the teen, yet the girl didn't bother to pay attention to it. Sora being preoccupied by Kairi speaking to her with a somewhat disappointed tone; "That wasn't very nice." she said in a huff toward her friend.

"But she's not a very nice person!" the brown-haired teen said quickly in her defense; "Besides, I'm sure she's following the whole 'treat others the way you want to be treated' thing, so I'm just following it."

"If she isn't treating you nicely, then shouldn't you try to set the example?" was Kairi's retort, to which Sora just groaned in response as she had nothing to counter the argument.

"Oh alright." Sora muttered while looking to the heavily glaring eyes of Larxene; "Would you like to be our friend?" she continued in a rather unenthused tone.

Yet Kairi then nudged her friend with her elbow, to which the brown-haired girl groaned once more and cleared her throat. "I mean...I would like it if you became a friend of ours. It would mean a lot to us to have you on our side." she said in a much more sincere voice than before.

However, this only seemed to make Larxene even more upset as her hands balled into fists and her right eye lid twitched in her anger. "Treating me like I'm some kind of sideshow, huh?" she growled out silently as she summoned her daggers between each finger.

"I'm gonna teach you once and for all that I am not someone to be messed with!" the blonde screamed out as she created a large wave of electricity around her.

This leading for Sora, Kairi and Donald to create their own variation of a Reflect spell in order to block the sudden surge. But after doing this, they all glanced to one another and blinked a few times since they were holding back a massive amount of power with little effort between them. Of which caused them all to take on a small smirk in response as it was the first time they were all working together. However, each of them were in perfect harmony that their magic blended together like three puzzle pieces.

'It's probably because, not only has Donald gotten used to fighting along side me and Kairi separately, but also because Kairi and I are best friends.' Sora thought quickly as she gave the white duck a quick grin before they all looked to Larxene.

Whom was now releasing a great amount of dark power along with all of the lighting crackling around her. Yet none of it seemed to do anything against the shield around the four, to which the brown-haired teen looked over to her friends. "We might as well fight her for real." she muttered with a shrug.

"She's almost like a tantruming child." Kairi whispered as if speaking mainly to herself as she continued to watch the furious woman in front of them.

Larxene now moving around the room at great speed, her hitting the shielding with everything she could think of to do. Whether it was throwing her daggers, creating speed clones of herself to attack from other angles, or just with raw power in general. But nothing seemed to happen to to the shield as the entire room around them was starting to turn black from all the scorch marks.

"Gawrsh, I think we should just wait for her to tire herself out. It might be safer than trying to fight her with all that lightning and stuff she's usin'." Goofy added as he glanced around to everything the woman was doing.

After his words, Sora blinked a few times and glanced around as Larxene kept vanishing from sight. The blonde's movements staying consistently fast for quite a while before finally starting to slow down from exhaustion. "Hmm...you know, she kinda is like a tantruming child when you watch her like this." she muttered silently with a sigh.

"Maybe there is more to her than being a bit-" yet the teen was cut short as Kairi cleared her throat.

This made Sora do the same as she gained a sheepish smile, to which she scratched the back of her neck. "S-Sorry...it just gonna slip out." she said somewhat nervously as her auburn-haired friend simply eyed her suspiciously.

Sora quickly cleared her throat once more as she watched as Larxene continued to slow down until coming to a stop. "Maybe it is worth trying to talk to her." the brown-haired girl said silently with a small smirk curling her lips.

* * *

 **Now then, what will become of our heroes? Will they be able to make their way through the castle safely? Or will the dangers that await them block their path? Find out next time on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z-I mean Kingdom Heart...Kingdom Hearts is what I meant to say. *Ehem* Anyway, until next time everyone.**


	9. Castle Oblivion part IX

**Sorry that this update is pretty late, I literally just wrote the whole thing, edited it and revised it just now. So, forgive me if it's rather short...though, it shouldn't be any shorter than last chapter. Anyway, onto the story. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 9: Castle Oblivion part IX

Sora took a few steps toward Larxene, said woman breathing heavily after all of her recent attacks. Upon coming within just a few steps of the blond, the teen gave a small smile and cleared her throat. "So then...I think we got off on the wrong foot." Sora started as her smile turned to a sheepish one.

"How about we start again?" she continued on, to which she then gestured to herself soon after; "I'm Sora."

Immediately after this, Larxene raised a brow in both anger and confusion as her expression matched this perfectly. "What are you doing?" she questioned silently, yet with a somewhat irritated tone in her voice.

The brown-haired teen simply gave an even more sheepish smile while scratching he back of her neck. "Well...I guess I was kinda hoping to start over and see if we could get along with one another." she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Larxene raised her brow higher in response to this before she suddenly started to laugh; "Are you serious?!" she howled out between her laughter, it sounding as if she was mocking Sora.

"You're a bunch of morons." was the last thing the blond said before immediately vanishing in a flood of darkness.

Upon watching this, the brown-haired teen simply sighed and turned to her friends with another shrug. "Well...that didn't go as hoped, but I guess it did go as expected." she muttered just loud enough for each of them to hear.

"Maybe...but it still shouldn't stop us from trying." Kairi stated, her raising a finger up as if to further her point.

This made Sora sigh silently as she nodded her head in response to the auburn-haired girl. "Alright alright, if you insist." she said, to which each of them soon turned to the seemingly untouched door and blue card in front of it.

"Guess we should keep going." the brown-haired teen said as each of the four made their way toward the door.

"But how about we actually fight back for the next one that shows up?" she continued with a glance over to Kairi.

Whom had sighed and shrugged slowly while responding with; "Oh alright...but we still should try talking to them anyway."

Sora nodded once more to her friend, to which they walked through the automatically opening doors. Though after going through, all of them blinked many times when they saw Destiny Islands. Immediately following this, Sora and Kairi glanced to each other and took on a small grin on their features. All the while, Donald and Goofy were able to finally take in the scenery of the island. As the last time they saw it, everything was destroyed soon after their arrival.

"Man...it feels like it's been forever since we've actually been home." the brown-haired teen muttered silently as if to herself.

"Yeah, it does have that nice charm to it that makes you feel welcome." Kairi added with a slow nod of agreement to her friend's comment.

"Lets just hope that this is a memory of the original...and not a memory of the one I saw before fighting Ansem." Sora said as she smirked a bit sheepishly, to which each of the four walked down to the beach.

"Welcome heroes!" a voice called out from behind and to the side, making the quartet of people quickly turn toward the source.

Upon looking, they instantly saw Zexion sitting on the roof of the shack that had been made into the side of a tall hill. Him gazing down at each of them with a small smirk as he rested one of his arms on his raised knee. "Did you enjoy your brief trip down memory lane?" the young man questioned while standing up.

"If you gave us a bit more time to take in the sights, maybe." Sora whispered with a silent huff as she summoned her Keyblade.

"Well...I can't have you getting too relaxed, now can I?" Zexion asked, to which he jumped down to the ground and looked to the four.

"After showing off your combined powers against Larxene, it's quite obvious that we're going to have to take on a more extreme approach. So I'm afraid that we're going to start coming after you in your memories as well." he continued, him summoning a large black book into his right hand.

This book having a strange series of white symbols and writing on the cover, while the spine and edges were covered in a silver-colored plating. Immediately after he brought this forth, Sora just stared at him with blinking eyes. "Wait...are a mage?" she questioned in the same moment Zexion brought a hand out as if to cast a spell.

"Of course. I am a 'Replicator Mage', meaning that I can mimic any spell that I have placed within these pages." the man stated with a small smirk on his features, him obviously being quite proud of this.

"But of course, I have also created my own unique spells...so you will never truly know what I will do next." he continued, his tone sounding as if he was enjoying telling them this information.

"Cool~!" Sora hummed out as she gave Zexion a somewhat eager expression, of which took him off guard.

"Do you think you could show me how to do that?" she asked quickly as her tone was perfectly matching her facial expression.

This made the man blink to her many times, yet he soon smirked lightly and shrugged. "Perhaps I will. But for now...we shall do battle and I will test your strength." Zexion responded as he soon waved his hand through the air.

Upon doing so, a flash of green light emanated from the book and the same symbol as the one on the cover appeared in front of the light. Immediately following this, the four blinked in shock as they were suddenly transported into a strange area. Of which appeared somewhat similar to a place Sora had seen within the Realm of Darkness as it had constantly moving winds of grey and black.

Yet all of them quickly looked around as dozens of books started appearing around them, some of which flew by at great speeds. Though when they each began to glow, Sora, Kairi and Donald instantly brought up their own Reflect spells. This allowing them to watch as the books flew straight into the shield and exploded with enormous force.

However, it still didn't give the trio any trouble in keeping their spell up as one by one, the books disappeared. "Man...is this gonna be a repeat of last time?" the brown-haired teen muttered silently to herself in a somewhat disappointed tone.

But before any answer could be voiced, a visual one came in the form of two dozen books suddenly rising up from the ground. "Guess not." was the last thing Sora said before the books began to glow.

This sparking the girl to swiftly rush up to Kairi, grab her by the wait and move up close to the other two. Her doing this within the blink of an eye as she used both her darkness and lightning magic in unison. Though, this was barely fast enough to escape the sudden explosion of all the books going off all at once. After the resulting smoke had cleared, a sole book descended down from the air. It having been hidden in the darkness of the realm they were in, to which it then shined brightly before revealing Zexion.

"Impressive Sora...quite impressive." he muttered silently as he saw Sora standing with her friends off to the side of where the explosions had been.

The teen only having a few minor burns on her arms and back, of which soon vanished as Donald raised his staff and casted a Cure spell on her. Yet as Kairi narrowed her eyes slightly at Zexion, she slowly turned her attention to the fact that Sora's arm was still around her.

"Man...that was a close one I have to admit. It might not have as much power as Larxene, but it certainly made up for it by being somewhat unpredictable." the brown-haired girl responded, her not even realizing where her free arm was.

"So then...what else do you have in that book?" she continued with a small grin on her features.

It being clear that she was still highly interested in learning more about his magic, despite the situation she and her friends were in. Upon her words, Zexion raised a brow in what seemed to be both surprise and intrigue. He then took on a small smirk of his own and transformed back into a book, yet his voice could still be heard from it. "You'll just have to find out~!"

Instantly following his words, everything around the four turned black, yet they were still able to see one another. But as they each glanced around, Sora finally realized that she was still holding Kairi. This sparking her to quickly let go, smile sheepishly and scratch the back of her neck. "S-Sorry about that, i-it was a 'heat of the moment' kind of thing." she said quickly, even with her brief stuttering.

The auburn-haired girl simply cleared her throat, waved her hand and offered a small smile in response. "It's alright, I understand. Thank you for protecting us."

Sora took on a normal smile to this, to which she nodded her head slowly. However, when each of them noticed a light being produced from above, they quickly tilted their heads up. Upon doing so, their eyes widened slightly as hundreds of small meteorites were coming right for them. This sparked the three magic users to make another Reflect shield around them, yet the two girls quickly looked down. Their eyes widening even further as they saw the same number of meteorites rising up toward them from the ground.

'This is gonna be tricky.' Sora thought quickly, her eyes closing while her mind started processing everything as fast as possible.

'Even if I was by myself, I likely wouldn't be able to block everything. But since I'm not by myself, I can't just go around dodging. Even if I was to try and carry them again, I would only be able to manage going in one direction like before. I doubt that I could do any sort of heavy maneuvering, so we need to come up with a way to block both sets of meteorites at the same time.' she continued with only seconds before impact.

Yet her eyes soon snapped open as if in realization of something; 'Time.' she repeated as a small smirk curled her lips.

* * *

 **And there you have it, no changing the hearts and minds of anyone today, but who knows what the future will hold. ;) I hope all of you enjoyed and let me know your opinions in a review. Until next time.**


	10. Castle Oblivion part X

**Alright, now before I begin...I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favored and followed this story (or even myself). I greatly appreciate it and I'm really glad that I can give all of you something to entertain yourselves with. ^^ Now then, onto the chapter~!**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 10: Castle Oblivion part X

"Stopga!" Sora called out while bringing her Keyblade into the air, to which a huge wave of golden colored energy blasted out from the teens weapon.

Immediately following this, the brown-haired girl glanced around and let out a breath of relief upon seeing that all of the meteorites had stopped in midair. She then let her arms drop to her sides before smirking proudly at her accomplishment and turning toward her friends. "Man...that was a close one, huh?" she questioned, yet blinked many times upon quickly noticing that each of the three were also frozen in time.

This lead for Sora to look down to her Keyblade and let out another sigh in response. "Looks like I still need more practice with this spell." she muttered while glancing around the area once more.

'Though, I'm glad I got as far as I have. I've barely gotten to train since Kairi, Donald and Goofy joined me...so I guess I've lucked out in being as strong as I am now for this fight.' Sora continued within her mind as she looked to all of the meteorites around them.

"Alright...lets see what I can do about all this." she whispered aloud while turning and walking over to her friends.

"Hmm..." the teen hummed out while looking at Kairi's pose of gazing down, yet with her magic staff being held up into the air.

"I got it!" Sora exclaimed with a grin as she moved her friend's raised arm down, to which she looked at the magic staff for a few moments.

It being a normal wooden one, yet held a series of flowers all across it and one large sunflower at the tip. "It's actually kinda cute now that I look at it." she muttered to herself before quickly going over to Donald.

'Good thing none of them can hear that.' the teen added to herself while looking over her duck friend.

Whom was in a similar pose as Kairi, to which Sora made the same changes to him. However, it was after doing this that she finally noticed that their Reflect spells had moved with their arms. This caused the teen to blink many times with a tilt of her head to the side in question; 'Hmm...I guess there is a lot I still have to learn about this Time magic stuff.' she thought to herself before walking over to Goofy.

The brown-haired girl just giggled softly at the anthropomorphic dog's rather nonchalant expression as he looked at the incoming meteorites. She then brought his shield up to block a meteor just inches from his head, to which she smiled softly to Goofy. "You gotta protect that head of yours, it's not gonna tickle getting hit by a massive rock you know." she whispered while gesturing to the meteor as if her friend was listening.

After this, she then unsummoned her Keyblade and took in a deep breath as she looked up at all of the meteorites above her. "Now to deal with all of these." Sora whispered as she flexed her left hand, which gained a dark aura around it.

This lead for the teen's entire body to become enveloped with this darkness, to which her eyes turned a shining golden color. "I guess it's good thing that they're frozen." she said silently with a brief glance toward her friends.

"I wouldn't want them to see me like this." the brown-haired girl finished, her skin gaining black, tribal-like markings at the same time that her black aura increased greatly.

Sora then began gathering dark energy into her left hand, which sparked with black electricity all around the orb slowly forming. As soon as it was the size of a baseball, the teen raised her hand out and shot a beam of dark energy into the air. However, as her fingers flexed outward and her free hand gripped her left arm, the beam expanded so wide that it engulfed nearly every meteorite in the air. The only ones left being those that were already within arm's reach, yet these were either about to miss anyway, or Goofy was going to block.

Yet, after Sora's attack on the meteorites, she let out a heavy breath and brought her hand down. "Man, even though I just expanded the beam's range...it took a lot more control than I was expecting." she muttered to herself while resummoning her Keyblade and pointing it down at the 'ground'.

Despite the teen briefly glancing around, she just huffed with a shrug while turning her gaze back to the floor. Her form returning to normal as the darkness around the teen subsided. 'I was expecting to sense Zexion somewhere, but I guess since I stopped time around us...no one can really give off a 'presence' in the first place. But...' she started as her gaze focused on one of the meteorites below her.

'...that also means that he's close enough for my spell to have effected him. So I just need to watch out for any movement once the meteors are all gone.' the teen continued in her mind while closing her eyes.

"Start." Sora spoke aloud, to which time began moving once more and the meteorites began colliding against Kairi's and Donald's shields.

Both of them had blinked a few times in question to the sudden change in position, yet they didn't question it as they saw that all of the falling rocks above them were mostly gone. However, Goofy quickly let out a brief yelp as he had deflected one of the remaining meteors off of his shield. Though, immediately after restarting time around them, Sora formed her own Reflega spell below them as to relieve some of the tension on the other two's shields.

Once all of the meteors were shattered by the barriers, Sora just turned to her friends with a small grin. "Looks like my training in Time spells paid off, huh?" was all she asked with a light giggle.

This instantly letting each of her friends know what happened, to which Kairi just smiled back to Sora with a nod. "Looks that way. Though..." she started with a slight tilt of her head to the side in question.

"...I thought you were already able to use those spells perfectly." Kairi finished as she raised a brow slightly.

"Hmm?" Sora hummed out as it was her turn to blink a few times; "Oh right...I forgot to mention." she continued as her grin turned into a somewhat sheepish one.

"I forgot every spell I ever knew upon entering this place." the teen continued with a shrug of her shoulders.

"These guys with the black jackets are behind that somehow, but I've been gaining my powers back ever since. But since I remembered most of what Merlin taught me, I've managed to get about as strong as I once was." she carried on, her taking on a confident and determined grin now.

Upon her words, each of the three simply stared at her in a bit of shock, which made Sora raised a brow. "What?" she asked while glancing between each of them.

"Nothing...it's just..." Kairi began, yet cleared her throat and looked to the side as if not wanting to finish her words.

"We're a bit surprised, that's all." Goofy commented quickly as he just smiled a bit sheepishly, him also seeming to avoid saying something further.

"Surprised at what?" Sora questioned, a small pout starting to develop on her features.

"The fact that you actually paid attention enough to remember his lessons." Donald stated with a firm tone as it was clear he simply blurted out what the other two were trying not to say.

"How mean!" Sora exclaimed with a deeper pout; "I pay a lot of attention to the things I like and enjoy doing!" she claimed almost proudly while puffing up her chest.

"And not so much of others." the white-feathered duck added silently to himself, yet he made sure it was loud enough for the others to hear.

This making Sora whine to him in response, to which she puffed her cheeks this time and crossed her arms. "You're so mean to me." she huffed out as she turned to the side quickly.

"Only because we like each other." Donald said with a small smile, which lead for Sora to look at him and mirror this expression.

"True." the brown-haired girl muttered, to which she nodded slowly and took on a wide grin along with the others.

Though this was soon broken as Sora shifted her gaze to the side and quickly shot a bolt of lightning from two of her fingers. This going straight into a floating book as it came into view, which caused a brief scream of pain to echo out from it. Immediately following this attack, Zexion materialized in place of the book as he dropped to the 'ground'.

"That was quite an intense technique you showed us." Sora began, her still having a small grin on her features.

"I would really like to learn how you did it...as well as even more spells you have in the book." she continued, to which Zexion raised a brow as he was somewhat surprised at the teen's eagerness to learn.

"But I'll have to put that on hold for now, cause this time...it's our turn." the girl finished with a wider grin and glance to her friends.

Upon nodding briefly to one another, all four of them rushed forward and to Zexion. Whom summoned his book once more as he quickly held out a hand to form another spell. However, he wasn't fast enough as Kairi shot a Fira spell toward his book, of which he had to block. Yet this allowed for Goofy to hit him from the side and knock him off balance. Zexion grunted silently from this, but it soon turned into a light scream of pain when Donald blasted a series of Thundara spells down on him.

Though, his scream had been cut short by a gasp for breath when Sora lunged her Keyblade straight into his stomach. He doubled over from this impact and even dropped his book as the four had taken up new positions around their opponent. Kairi and Donald being to the side with their magic staffs placed together, all while Sora was behind Zexion and Goofy had gone in front of him.

But the moment the man started to catch his breath and reach for his book, his hand was rejected by a small Reflect spell around it. This made him growl silently while simply unsummoning his weapon in order to resummon back into his hand. However, within the few moments it took to do this, Goofy rushed forward and slammed his shield into Zexion.

The sudden impact pushed the man backward and off his feet, though he was then hit from behind by Sora's Keyblade with great force. But rather than knocking him forward once more, the teen threw his body into the air with raw strength. This shocked Zexion for a brief moment, yet he quickly vanished in a cloud of smoke and reappeared near of Goofy.

Yet in the same moment Zexion brought his hand out to cast a spell, a Reflega spell appeared around the dog to block it. This drew his attention over toward Sora as she managed to react to his sudden teleportation fast enough. Though upon being distracted by the teen, Donald and Kairi had pointed their magic staffs toward their opponent and chanted out their combined spells.

"Graviga Swirl."

As soon as they said this, a vortex of black and purple magic flew into Zexion from behind and blasted him forward at great speed. This causing him to growl in a bit of pain as the spell seemed almost more defensive than anything else. Though, he then started to grind his teeth together in frustration as he hated the fact that he was losing to the 'numbers game'.

However, his frustration instantly turned to shock as Sora had appeared just a few feet in front of him with a large, yellow aura around her. This light sparking with electricity as she readied to hit him with great force in a matter of milliseconds. But it had been just enough time for Zexion to teleport once more, to which he reappeared far off to the side and narrowed his eyes on his opponents.

It being clear from his expression that even he knew this was becoming a very one sided fight. Yet he quickly blinked a few times as Goofy just seemed to disappear from sight, which made Zexion look around quickly. Though he would realize until it was too late that Kairi and Donald teleported the anthropomorphic dog directly above Zexion. Him then being hit in the head by the somewhat small shield and was almost instantly knocked out.

This causing the area around everyone to slowly return back to the scenery of Destiny Islands, to which they all blinked a few times. "W-Was all of that basically an illusion?" Kairi questioned with a glance around the area.

"I don't think so...I'm pretty sure that we were taken somewhere else completely." Sora said silently while walking over toward Zexion's unconscious body.

"It's a very complex magic, but I think he brought us into a 'pocket world' where he can use the full extent of his powers without worrying about his opponent's escaping or such." she continued as she tapped her chin a few times.

"That does sound like what we just experienced." Donald added, him slowly nodding the girl's words.

"Though..." Sora started once more as she knelt down and picked up Zexion's book from said man's hand; "...I'm sure we haven't seen the full extent of his abilities just yet."

Immediately after her words however, a dark portal appeared to the side and placed each of the four on edge once more. Though as Axel came walking through, Sora just smirked lightly and waved to him. "Hello again, Axel." she said as her smirk widened into a full smile.

Kairi, Donald and Goofy just looked between the two with blinking eyes for a moment as they noticed that Sora was both relaxed and ready to fight somehow. Although, when Axel just shrugged his shoulders and sighed, the brown-haired teen could tell something was going on.

"I'm just here to give you a quick warning and deliver a message." Axel began while slowly narrowing his eyes on each of the four nearby.

"The warning is...if you're gonna be traveling with these three, we're gonna start battling you four in pairs." he stated, to which Sora own eyes began to narrow slightly.

The brown-haired girl understanding that her, and her friends, were only doing as well as they were because they had the advantage through numbers. But if that was reduced or even taken away, they wouldn't even stand a chance against people as strong as these black coat wearers. Though, the teen quickly snapped out of these thoughts when Axel continued on with his words.

"As for the message...well, I think it's best just to show you." he finished before stepping to the side.

This making Sora's eyes widen in response as directly on the other side of the swirl of darkness was the girl she had been seeing in her memories. "Namine." she whispered out silently.

* * *

 **And there you have it, things are gonna really start getting heated from this point on. And yes, that is a reference to the fact that Axel is around...cause you know...fire and all. I know I'm not funny. XD Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed and will let me know what you thought in a review. Until next time.**


	11. Castle Oblivion part XI

**Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 11: Castle Oblivion part XI

"Namine." Sora whispered out silently as she gazed at the young blond teen, whom had her head tilted down.

Said girl was also sitting in a chair that was just as white as the room that could be seen around her. Though the portal kept the field of vision somewhat narrow for the room, Sora could automatically assume that it was the top floor of the castle. But after saying the blond's name, Namine slowly tilted her head up to look at the brown-haired teen.

Upon doing so, Sora blinked many times at the pain-filled gaze the girl's eyes held. However, Namine soon mouthed what appeared to be 'I'm so sorry' before the brown-haired girl suddenly felt a burning within her very mind. A great deal of memories were being flooded in and taken away at great speed as Sora clutched her hands over her head from the pain.

"Sora!" Kairi called out while rushing over to her, yet was stopped as Axel stood in her way.

"Sorry...but I'm afraid this is an inevitability." the red-haired man claimed while narrowing his eyes on the girl, as well as Donald and Goofy when they tried to run past him.

Yet they were also stopped when a wall of fire erupted from the ground in front of them; "You're not getting past me." was all Axel stated in a firm tone as he seemed very confident in being able to hold back each of the three with little trouble.

Something of which the trio noticed, yet Kairi seemed to refuse letting her friend get hurt. Her raising her magic staff to cast a spell, but the red-haired man simply held out a hand. "Sleep." was all he whispered before Kairi's eyes closed and her body fell limply to the sand.

"How troublesome." Axel muttered with a sigh before shrugging.

"And here I'm just being nice in letting Sora get all this done and over with in on shot." he continued while watching Donald and Goofy rush to Kairi's side.

"I'm actually going against orders by doing this, but hey...all I'm interested in is what she'll do once all of the manipulated memories are in place." the red-haired man said as he glanced over his shoulder to Sora.

"As well as her reaction to seeing Namine again." he whispered silently to himself, yet he then turned back toward Donald and Goofy as the former spoke up.

"We won't let you get away with this! We'll just tell Sora what happened!" the duck claimed as he readied his magic staff, to which Goofy brought up his own weapon.

"Oh? And how will you accomplish that when none of you will remember what happened here?" was all Axel questioned before both of them fell to the sand and fell asleep.

This revealing Vexen behind them, to which said man just sighed and rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you've got me doing your dirty work." he muttered silently while crossing his arms.

Axel simply chuckled with a small smirk on his features, him crossing his own arms and allowed the wall of fire to die down. "Oh please...you want to see Sora's actions just as much as I do." he claimed confidently as Vexen merely glanced to the side briefly.

"Hardly. It's the course of action she will take when she meets my Riku Replica again that I am truly interested in. And I don't wish to wait until she reaches the final floor to see it." the platinum blonde-haired man stated, to which both he and Axel slowly looked over to Sora as she had fallen to her knees at this point.

Though, it was only a few more seconds before all of the pain stopped and the brown-haired teen fell forward onto her hands. The girl breathed heavily as her consciousness was quickly fading, Sora's vision spinning wildly from the overload of information. Despite her eyes slowly closing, she managed one last glimpse toward Namine before she had completely lost her consciousness.

The blonde-haired girl had an expression of sorrow, pain and what almost seemed like self-loathing as tears streamed down her cheeks. But the moment Sora finally went limp and fell to the ground, Namine quickly reached out toward her as if wanting to rush to her side. However, she was stopped when Axel and Vexen came walking through the portal to block her. This swirl of darkness quickly vanishing after they went through, once again sealing the blonde girl in the room with her 'heroine' unconscious on the other side.

"Sora..." she whispered out as her head tilted down and both hands clutched at her heart.

Meanwhile, the brown-haired teen and her friends remained asleep for one full hour before they finally awoke. However, the only thing they could recall was Axel's warning before everything went black. Yet for Sora, her mind was still swimming with new and different memories that felt just as real as every other one. But they somehow seemed foreign to her, as if they were something she merely watched, rather than lived.

"What happened?" Donald question while rubbing the top of his head from under his hat.

"I dunno...I'm pretty sure we just beat that Zexion guy, and then that red-haired feller showed up." Goofy said as he scratched the side of his head, him thinking this over for a few moments as if wondering if there was something he missed.

"Do you think he beat us?" Kairi asked, her glancing around to each of the others with blinking eyes.

"Not by himself." Sora spoke up as she glanced around the area.

"Aside from Axel, there was at least one other person here." she continued, to which she pointed to the set of boot prints near of where Kairi, Donald and Goofy had been sleeping.

'I knew that we likely wouldn't stand much chance if they started attacking in pairs. But I didn't think they would beat us 'this' badly. I can't imagine that they beat us to the point that we would completely forget about it.' the brown-haired teen thought silently, her examining the long scorch mark on the sand nearby.

'I wish I remembered what happened, this is all so confusing.' she continued while turning her gaze over toward where she had woke up.

'Especially considering the fact that it looks as if I hadn't moved at all.' were her last thoughts before turning toward the others, only to yelp very girlishly when Kairi was standing just a few inches away.

"W-What?" Sora questioned quickly as a light blush spread on her cheeks.

"You looked like you were troubled about something, I'm just wondering what it was...and why you're not talking to us about it." were the auburn-haired teen's words, her crossing her arms in the process.

Sora blinked many times in response, yet she soon gave a small smile toward her friend. "It's alright, I was just trying to figure out what might have happened before we passed out." she began while waving her hand dismissively.

"I didn't come up with anything of course, but I figure that it must have been a very quick battle." the teen finished as her gaze briefly narrowed in order to give her words more weight.

This lead for each of the other three to nod their heads in response and agreement. All four of them understanding that they needed to be very careful in their fights from this point on. Though immediately after this, they then turned to the side when the exit of the memory appeared in the form of a large rectangle of light. Sora let out a sigh as they walked forward, yet her mind continued working quickly the whole way.

'What really happened? Was there even a fight? And why do I feel like I just got over the biggest migraine of my life?' she thought, to which she rubbed her temples briefly from the mild lingering pain.

Upon going through the light, the four of them arrived on the other side and onto the next level of the castle. It appearing just like all of the others, yet they could feel a strong presence looming over them that made the four remain on edge.

'This is the sixth floor out of the final thirteen, but it feels like things are just now starting to get serious.' Sora thought to herself as they each walked toward the next set of doors.

However, upon walking up the stairs that lead to the next area where the doors were located, they immediately stopped. There being two figures standing directly in front of the next entrance, though while one of them could be identified as Vexen, the other was still hooded. Yet just by looking between the two, Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy could tell that they were a much larger male with a highly muscular body.

"You've done well to make it this far, but it's time to see if you're truly worthy of moving further." came the larger man's words, his voice being deep and strong as he slowly removed his hood.

The man had very angular and strong features, with a square chin, straight nose, and sharp cheekbones. His eyes were a deep blue color, while his eyebrows seemed to be rather small. This man's hair was ginger colored and slicked back into rather odd, messy spikes.

"I am Lexaeus...and I will be testing both your power and will." he claimed while summoning a huge axe sword in his right hand.

This being about a meter in length, with a blue handle roughly as long as the blade. Of which appeared to be made of black, red, and yellow metal, that simply looked extremely heavy from how thick the weapon was. Though, Lexaeus seemed to hold it with little effort, which had basically explained his large build on its own.

"Hmph...and I'm just here for more data while my other experiment is under way." Vexen commented with a small, yet diabolical smirk on his features as he brought forth his blue-colored shield.

'Other experiment?' Sora echoed in her mind as her eyes narrowed slightly, to which she and the others summoned their own weapons.

'Something tells me that Riku is involved.' she continued while tightening her grin on the Keyblade.

* * *

 **And there we go, things are starting to approach the final act, just like in the previous one where Sora met Xemnas. ;) I hope everyone is still enjoying the story and will let me know what you thought in a review. Until next time everyone.**


	12. Castle Oblivion part XII

**Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 12: Castle Oblivion part XII

As Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy looked at the two members of the Organization, the first of the group spoke up in a whisper. Yet due to the sheer silence of the room, her voice was still heard no matter how quietly she talked.

"That guy with the shield is named; Vexen. I haven't seen him fight firsthand, but keep an eye out for any techniques he shows and modify your own to counter them. But don't take everything he does at first glace, I have no doubt that each of these guys will try to lure us in with a false sense of vulnerability. So stay on guard." Sora started as she never broke eye contact with Lexaeus.

"Also, make sure that when you get around his shield, you attack relentlessly. I have a feeling that he places a lot of his defense specifically on his shield, so give it all you've got when you get beyond it." she continued silently, which only earned her a nod in response from the three and a sneer from Vexen himself.

"Hmph...I'll make you and your little 'friends' understand just how wrong those insolent words of yours are." the platinum blond-haired man stated firmly while narrowing his eyes on the four.

Sora simply ignored this as she and her friends had already figured out what their plan of action was from the teen's explanation. This lead for the brown-haired girl to glance to her side briefly before turning her gaze back to Lexaeus. Immediately after their eye contact, Sora jumped backward in the same instant that the large man leapt forward. Them quickly arriving on the other side of the stairs as it gave them their own room to fight in.

"So you wish to face me on your own?" Lexaeus questioned as he rested his huge axe upon his shoulder.

"I admire your courage, but it was foolish of you not to ask even one of your comrades for assistance. Or are you 'that' confident in your current level of power?" he continued, to which Sora simply smirked lightly with a shrug.

"Honestly, I think you're one of the more powerful people I've encountered in this castle. I have a feeling that I could be in over my head with challenging you like this." the teen responded with a wave of her free hand.

Her words caused the man to raise a brow in question as he tilted his head slightly to the side; "Then why fight me alone?"

Sora remained silent for a moment as she looked up at the ceiling before shifting her gaze back to Lexaeus. "I think it's because I really want to test myself against you." the teen started, causing the man to blink and raise a brow in question.

"After my recent training...I haven't really have the chance to fight anyone on my own, aside from that brief skirmish with Vexen. But even that wasn't really a fight, and my friends showed up immediately afterward. So, I haven't gotten the chance to test the strength I gained since my last one-on-one fight with Larxene." she said, to which a small smirk curled her lips.

All the while, the large man simply blinked a few more times at her response, to which he slowly nodded his head. "I can respect your decision." he spoke out with a small hint of a smirk on his features.

"Therefore..." he continued while allowing the axe to slip from his shoulder and hit the floor, which cracked upon impact.

Immediately following this, a huge surge of darkness violently burst from Lexaeus' body and surrounded the area. "...I will fight you without holding back!" he finished as the black energy slowly calmed until it formed an aura around the large man.

The brown-haired teen just smirked to this as she readied her Keyblade and narrowed her gaze slightly. After doing so, her eyes briefly flashed gold before she vanished from sight. However, Lexaeus quickly turned and blocked a swing from Sora with his own weapon. This created a spark of black-colored electricity that flew around them, though it didn't last long as the girl quickly vanished once more. Yet she soon came back into view a split second later behind her opponent, whom had once again blocked her swing with ease.

"Good...using your speed against a person whom you can tell has a disadvantage at such things. It's a smart battle strategy, no doubt." the man complimented as Sora had then moved to his left side since his weapon wouldn't be able to block fast enough.

"However..." he continued as he simply allowed the blow to hit him in the stomach, which didn't even make him flinch.

"...you're sacrificing too much strength for speed." Lexaeus claimed as Sora just gazed up at him with a small smirk before vanishing once more.

She then appeared back in her original spot and took on a wider smirk; "I thought we were supposed to be fighting, not exchanging compliments." she said in a way that sounded as if she actually didn't mind it too much.

"Perhaps...but I am always a warrior first. And being a warrior, I have to admire another when they show promise in becoming a strong fighter." was the man's response as he placed his weapon upon his shoulder once more.

Sora blinked a few times to him before smiling softly with a slow nod of her head, to which she readied herself to fight. "Well...thank you. I hope I keep impressing you if that's the case." she said as her eyes turned fully golden this time.

Lexaeus narrowed his gaze to this as he hadn't caught the brief flash from before, though it merely made him smirk while blocking another slash from the front. Him bringing his axe down just in time as despite not being fast, he still had quick reflexes. However, his eyes soon widened when he saw the teen cloaked in a thick aura of darkness that made her almost unrecognizable. But it was the sudden increase of her sheer strength that shocked him the most as he could tell she was at least ten times stronger now.

Though, he was still able to overpower the teen as he pushed her back with his own strength. Yet no sooner had her feet touched the floor, the girl had vanished once more, her going even faster than before. This making Lexaeus start looking around for Sora as his eyes were no longer able to keep up with the teen. "Most impressive." he muttered silently just before he was hit from behind.

The brown-haired girl's swing briefly lifting Lexaeus off the floor from the force, but it was clear he only took minimal damage as he quickly spun around with his own swing. But even after missing the already moved teen, the sheer strength of his attack created a huge crack in the wall simply from the shockwave.

After seeing this, Sora whistled silently as she was standing on the opposite side of the room. "How did you manage to get 'that' kind of strength?" she questioned in genuine interest, something of which Lexaeus noticed.

Despite the man raising a brow in question to her, he slowly turned toward the teen fully and grasped his axe with both hands. "Years of training, focus and determination." was all he claimed as Sora simply blinked a few times.

She then smirked in response and slowly shifted herself to the side; "Well then, how about this; if I beat you, you have to share a part of your training schedule with me?" she asked with a quick grin on her features.

Lexaeus simply smirked back to her and briefly chuckled; "Very well then, I will honor such an agreement." he answered as his aura started to increase and gain a deep red and yellow color.

"But you must first defeat me!" he declared as the sheer amount of energy he was radiating made it clear that he was only just now getting serious.

'Looks like he had the same idea as me in testing what type of opponent we would be fighting.' Sora thought as her own aura slowly diminished to reveal her normal self.

Yet this quickly changed as her skin gained the black, tribal-like markings and her sclera turned black, while her iris' remained gold. "Lets find out which of us is stronger!" she called out with a wide grin of excitement as she almost felt like her younger self in fighting against Riku all those times.

Instantly after her words, both of them jumped forward and clashed their weapons together. This created an enormous burst of darkness that shattered all the pillars, as well as cracked the walls so deeply that it appeared like they would just crumble at any moment. But the resulting exchange still caused Sora to be pushed backward as Lexaeus still had the greater physical strength. Of which made Sora narrow her eyes slightly while the black marking on her skin began to expand in response.

Though the large man noticed this, he didn't say anything as Sora rushed toward him yet again. This forced him to do the same as their weapons collided once more, the impact being even greater than before. However, nothing further changed in the room around them as if no matter how great the force, it couldn't be fully destroyed. Something of which caught Sora's attention for a brief moment as she had once again been pushed back.

She silently sighed in a bit of frustration, yet she quickly started to calm herself and halt the progression of the darkness spreading through her body. Lexaeus simply nodded almost invisibly to this as if he had been expecting her to do this, rather than just continuing until she went out of control. "As expected of the Keyblade wielder I suppose." he muttered silently to himself, which was barely hear over the roar of both the fighters' powers surrounding their bodies.

"Well...I guess I won't be able to compete with your raw power no matter how much darkness I use." Sora all but muttered with a sigh, to which she just shrugged her shoulders.

"But of course...my biggest weakness is my strength. After all, it's not something I've tried to develop all that much." she continued, causing Lexaeus' eyes to widen briefly in shock as to how strong she was with so little training.

But it was more of the fact that her weakest aspect was still at such a level that it could compete with him to such a degree. Even though he had yet to unleash his full power, Lexaeus was still stunned at this. Yet it simply made him take on a defensive pose as he wanted to be ready for whatever the teen would do next.

"Now then, I guess it's time for me to use the powers I'm best at." the teen finished, to which her black aura quickly turned to an off white color as her sclera returned to normal.

Though Lexaeus quickly figured out what Sora was about to do and rushed forward as to prevent it, he was too late. With only a single word, the man knew that no matter what he did from this point on, he couldn't touch her. "Stopga."

Immediately following this, the man was frozen in time and allowed Sora to attack as much as she wanted before her time ran out. Which for her, had been thirty seconds. But for the large man, it was instantaneous. Yet when time restarted for him, he was slammed against a wall with quite a few injuries across his body. Some of which were mere scratches, while others felt quite painful and even forced him to hunch down after pealing himself off of the wall. The pain he felt made it difficult for him to keep his grip on the axe as the blade was embedded into the floor just from its weight.

As he breathed out heavily, Lexaeus glanced around the room. Which had a great many scorch marks, new cracks and even a few traces of electricity in the air. This making it clear to him that she must have used every single spell she could just to injure him to this degree. But after a brief moment of catching his breath, Lexaeus finally shifted his gaze toward Sora.

Whom of which was breathing rather heavily, all while hunched over and sweating lightly. It being clear that everything she did to not only injure him, but also keep time paused, had been very taxing on her body. Yet as he brought up his weapon to take advantage of this moment of weakness, he slowly let out a breath and placed his axe back on the floor.

"I will concede this battle for now." he said silently while straightening his body through sheer will power.

"Huh?" the teen voiced out with blinking eyes, her exhaustion being all but forgotten.

"I can see the limits of your current level of power. And while you might possibly be able to beat me as you are now...you have a long way to go if you wish to rescue your friends." the man stated firmly as his eyes narrowed slightly on the girl.

Whom blinked a few more times before she too forced her body to straighten out, to which she then nodded slowly to him. "Well then...I'll just have to grow stronger." she stated firmly with a gaze of conviction and a small smirk.

This making Lexaeus nod his head slowly in response, to which a dark portal appeared behind him. "My strength is founded on doing physical exercises, but if you wish to strengthen your body...you must first strengthen your mind." he started while slowly backing up into the portal.

"Concentrate all of your will power into the thought of strength and you can grow far more rapidly than you realize." he continued as he stepped fully into the darkness.

"Show me the results of your training the next time we meet." were the last words he said before the portal disappeared and took Lexaeus along with it.

* * *

 **And there you have it. It might not have been too much of a fight, but it is part of what will come when they truly 'duke it out'. I hope all of you enjoyed and will let me know your opinions in a review. Until next time everyone.**


	13. Castle Oblivion part XIII

**Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, this was originally going to be attached to the end of the previous one. But it got too lengthy and I wasn't going to have enough time to write the real next chapter the previous week due to midterms, so I split it up and made this part into the next chapter. I hope you guys still enjoy this even if it's mostly dialogue. ;)  
**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 13: Castle Oblivion part XIII

Immediately following Lexaeus' disappearance, Sora let out a breath and kneeled down from her exhaustion. However, she quickly turned her gaze toward the stairs as an explosion was heard from the top step. Upon looking toward it, all the teen saw was Vexen flying toward her while screaming loudly.

This made Sora blink a single time before quickly pushing herself up and out of the way, to which Vexen went face-first into the floor. Him groaning a bit in pain from this as he slowly managed to pick himself up and turn around. "Those little..." was all he muttered at first as his gaze shifted from the stairs, to Sora.

Whom had cringed a bit from watching his fall, yet quickly just stared at him with a confident gaze. It being clear that considering the man's current state, her deductions about how to fight him were correct. Yet this only made Vexen growl silently in response as he slowly stood back up to his feet. "Th-This doesn't prove anything!" he declared quickly as his broken and cracked shield disbursed into many tiny ice shards.

"Sure it doesn't." was all Sora responded with in a rather teasing tone, which just made Vexen growl a bit more.

"Y-You haven't won just yet...we'll attack in threes if we must!" he claimed before vanishing in a brief flood of darkness.

Once this black energy faded, Sora simply smirked lightly and looked over to her friends as they rushed down the steps. "Nicely done." she said as each of them appeared to have taken minimal damage from their fight.

Each of the three glancing around the nearly demolished room before turning their gaze back to Sora. "You too." Kairi responded as she looked her friend over to make sure she wasn't injured.

"Gawrsh, it sounded like he was a tough opponent for you to fight." Goofy added with blinking eyes as he took brief glances at the huge cracks in the walls and even the floor.

"Yeah...I was about to come over and help you out." Donald said while shrugging and crossing his feathered arms.

"But I figured that you would muscle your way through somehow, like you usually do." he continued, to which he looked to Sora with a small smirk.

Yet while he complimented the teen, she just pouted lightly to him as she knew his underlining message. "Hey...I'm not a 'muscle head'!" she claimed in a near whine as Donald simply shrugged once more.

"You could have fooled me." was all he answered with, which made Sora pout a bit more as the other two just chuckled lightly.

After a few brief seconds, the brown-haired girl glanced around to each of the three and gave a small smile. "Well...I'm glad that you're all safe." she began, her then tapping her chin with a single finger.

"But I do think that we should do a bit of training." Sora continued while looking around briefly as if knowing that someone was watching.

"We'll train and rest inside the memories. If our luck holds out, we should be able to get a lot stronger in just a few days now that all four of us are working together." she whispered out as the others all huddled together in order to keep the sound to a minimum.

"Sounds good, but what if they keep coming after us in the memories as well? Or worse...attack when we're asleep?" Donald spoke silently as he looked between each of the others.

"Maybe we could have one or two stay awake while the others sleep and then alternate?" Kairi suggested, to which everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright...but we may have only won this time because we had the numbers game." Goofy started while gesturing to Kairi and Donald with his head.

"And you were able to push back that other guy on your own." he continued, to which he shifted his gaze toward Sora.

"What do we do if it doesn't work out like that again?" the anthropomorphic dog asked in a rather worried tone.

Immediately following his question, everyone went silent as they tried to think of how to answer. Yet it was Sora whom broke the silence, her gaze narrowed slightly to show that she was very serious. "I don't know for sure if this is the case, but I feel like they need me here for something." she started with a glance to her friends.

"I also don't know why, aside from a few speculations. But I think that if they really wanted to beat us...they'd just do it outright. Therefore, I think that...even with you guys with me...they won't do anything to really hurt us unless it comes down to fighting us for real." Sora continued, her head tilting down in deep thought about this.

"So having a defeat shouldn't mean the end, so long as we follow along with their 'game'." she finished as each of the other three slowly gave a nod in response to her in understanding.

"So we just play their game, and get out of being killed as payment?" Donald muttered a bit grimly as he just huffed, not liking the idea at all.

"For now, yes." the brown-haired teen responded with a slow nod to him.

"Then that's just what we'll have to do." Kairi spoke up as she glanced around to the others, to which she gave them an encouraging smile.

"And in the mean time, we'll not only grow stronger...but also get to know these guys a bit better." she continued as her smile widened slightly.

"Maybe we can even get some of them on our side and completely change the tides of this whole 'game'." the auburn-haired girl finished, making the other three smirk and nod in response.

"Sounds good to me." Sora, Donald and Goofy all spoke out at once, to which they finally separated and immediately started heading back up the stairs, toward the next door.

However, halfway up these steps, Sora paused and tilted her head down in thought as her gaze narrowed slightly. 'Although...I know that they need me, but I don't know about everyone else.' she contemplated while briefly closing her eyes.

'Maybe it would be safer if I go on ahead after I achieve a high enough power to take on these guys myself.' she continued, yet as she looked to Kairi, she smiled softly.

'Who am I kidding? I couldn't do that to her.' Sora thought, her smile widening as she slowly followed after her friends.

But midway through the hall, the brown-haired teen stopped once more as Namine's image flashed over Kairi's for a brief second. This startling Sora for a moment, yet she just rubbed her eye with her fingers and looked to her auburn-haired friend once more. Her having a normal appearance as she turned around to face the other girl; "Come on Sora." she called out while waving the teen over.

Sora simply smirked and nodded while going up to the door with her friends, yet her mind was racing quickly the whole time. 'What was that all about? Why did I just see Namine?' were just two of the many questions she asked herself.

Though, after these inquires finally came to an end, more rose to the surface in their place. Yet these were more about Namine herself as Sora realized that she hadn't thought about other memories of the blonde for a while. Upon thinking about these however, the teen was almost overwhelmed from the number of memories she was remembering.

'Sunrises...sunsets...dinners...snacks...school...summer vacation...' Sora thought while images of her being together with Namine day after day had flooded the teen's mind.

'We've been together so much...how could I forget?' were her last thoughts while entering the next memory.

While doing so, her eyes were noticeably void of light as if her mind was too overloaded to think straight. Yet as she walked on, a voice inside of Sora's mind suddenly spoke up and snapped the teen from the strange daze she was in. "No one shall control your mind but me!"

* * *

 **Dun dun dun~! Guess who makes a surprising return? Well...one of the only people who talking about controlling Sora I suppose. But that's neither here nor there~, I hope you guys liked this chapter, despite how short it was. I'll try to make the next one longer to make up for it. ;) Anyway, leave your thoughts in a review, and I'll see you guys next time.**


	14. Castle Oblivion part XIV

**Alright everyone, here comes a pretty big turning point, so make sure to pay attention to the things that are said here. ;) Also, I very nearly made a continuity error with Sora's past...but I fixed it, so don't worry about anything and just enjoy. ^^**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 14: Castle Oblivion part XIV

"No one shall control your mind but me!"

Sora's eyes widened briefly in shock as she quickly turned to the side as if toward the source of the sudden voice. Yet despite the words having been spoken directly into her mind, the teen still saw the pale green-skinned witch of darkness standing right next to her.

"M-Maleficent…?" Sora all but stuttered out in a shocked whisper.

Though it wasn't until after she said her name that the brown-haired girl realized that she was standing in front of the gate to the Olympus Coliseum. At which point, the teen's friends turned to her with a raised brow and somewhat concerned expressions. "Are you sure you're alright, Sora?" Kairi asked as she walked up to her, it being obvious that the others didn't hear the name she had spoken silently.

Despite opening her mouth to speak up, Sora gave a quick glance toward the witch still standing next to her. This leading for her to just clear her throat and give a small smile to the auburn-haired girl; "Of course…I'm just a little tired from the fight." she said while giving a slow nod of her head.

Sora then started walking toward the large doors, yet she kept glancing over to Maleficent as she constantly remained at her side. 'How are you here?' she thought inwardly as the teen already figured out that the woman only existed inside of her mind.

"I gave you the rest of my power before you left, remember? It's still inside of you just waiting to be used." Maleficent explained with a small, yet rather devious smirk curling her lips.

'So you left a fragment of yourself within me so that when the time was right, you could try and take control of my mind?' the teen mused in more of a statement than a question.

'That's quite brilliant.' she continued with a rather complimenting tone, even within her own head.

This simply caused Maleficent to chuckle lightly as Sora and her friends made their way inside of the coliseum. "Always the calm one, even in the face of the enemy." she muttered silently with a shake of her head while her rather devious smirk remained.

"It all depends on your definition of an 'enemy'." the brown-haired girl whispered out as she went on to complete her memory of being in the tournament.

All the while, Maleficent just stood off to the side watching the teen's progress as if it were her own. Sora using this time to have Phil train herself and her friends, while said satyr seemed to be just as knowledgeable as the real one. Each of the four spending many hours training themselves until finally, they just collapsed. Though, Sora herself went on much longer than the others, due to her training in multiple areas, rather than one or two. Yet she too ended up giving up after so long out of utter exhaustion.

"Ugh~! This is so much harder than I was expecting~!" the brown-haired teen huffed out in a near groan while staring up at the sky.

"I really hope none of them decide to attack right now, cause I don't think I could move an inch at this point." Kairi added with a heavy and tired sigh.

"Well…you guys can get some rest, I'll stay awake for now. I have a few things I wanna talk to Phil about anyway." Sora said silently as she sat herself up and glanced over to her friends.

Each of whom blinked to the girl a few times, yet slowly nodded their heads in response to her words. "Alright, but wake us up at the first sign of trouble." Kairi stated firmly as she stood up with the others, only to point a finger at the brown-haired girl as to further her words.

Sora had simply smiled lightly to her and nodded back; "Of course~!" she all but sang out, despite still being a bit out of breath.

After this, Kairi, Donald and Goofy all went inside of the lobby so that they could rest. Meanwhile, Sora just sat down on the ground while leaning against one of the tall walls of the arena. Yet she wasn't alone as Maleficent stood over her with both hands over the jewel of her staff. "You're fighting an uphill battle with this ridiculous training." she stated in a somewhat disappointed tone.

"What else can I do? There are only so many things that I can train with to increase my powers." Sora whispered back as she watched Phil training Hercules in the arena now that the tournament was over.

"Allow me to train your body directly. I could endow you with all of my powers and more in just a few brief seconds." the woman claimed with a small, yet very proud smirk on her features.

The brown-haired girl just giggled lightly to this with a quick shake of her head; "I think I'll pass." she started while waving a hand dismissively.

"I'm pretty sure that the more power you 'endow' to me, the greater your control over me will become. And I'm not in the mood to be controlled again." the teen continued, her tone becoming rather firm at the end as she tilted her head up to look at Maleficent directly.

Said woman merely snickered briefly with a shrug in response; "I suppose it was too good to be true." she muttered in a near sigh while glancing toward Hercules as he punched a great many wooden barrels that flew toward him in quick succession.

"But then what is your alternative?" Maleficent continued as she turned back toward Sora with a raised brow in question.

"Continuously strengthening your body until you become a 'meat head' like that man over there who claims to be a 'Hero'?" she asked, her briefly pointing toward Hercules with a single extended finger.

"Well…I wouldn't really consider him a 'meat head', but I don't intend to only be physically strong." the brown-haired girl answered as a small grin curled her lips.

"I want to be proficient in everything possible." she continued with a determined glint in her eyes.

Maleficent simply scoffed to this while rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "That's such a child's mentality. There is no such person whom can master all forms of combat." she stated firmly as her gaze hardened on the teen.

Whom had giggled once more in response, to which she tilting her head up to look at a passing cloud in the sky. "Maybe…but I think that it takes a child's imagination to do the impossible." she whispered almost to herself, a soft smile curling her lips.

"If I can come this far with my magic and dark powers, I think I can go just as far with my physical strength as well." Sora continued as she tilted her gaze over to the witch.

"And I think that deep down…everyone knows that it's possible to master just about everything they want. They're just too afraid that someone might come around who is better than they are and make their efforts feel in vain." the teen said while slowly stand up to her feet.

"But that should be what they should look forward to the most since it gives them a new drive to keep getting better." she explained, Sora taking a few steps forward before stopping and turning around to face Maleficent.

Whom of which was just staring almost blankly at the brown-haired girl in front of her, to which she slowly raised a brow. "Oh~?" Maleficent hummed out, her brow lifting a bit higher while her head tilted to the side slightly.

"I recall a similar statement in your memories." she commented while slowly tapping her chin with a slender finger.

This made Sora look to her with a raised brow, though her eyes quickly widened as she herself remembered where that phrase came from. "Yes…I believe it was that tall man with the silver hair." she continued as she looked to Sora with a raised brow.

"You mistook him for a relative of Riku's, yet it was he who placed you on the path you're on now." Maleficent stated, her not even noticing the teen turning her head away as if to hide her shame.

"After all…before then, you were about to let your friends drown after knocking them out of their boats." were the witch's last words before Sora hissed; "Shut up." to her.

Yet rather than going silent, the woman simply smirked to this reaction and took a step forward. "Oh~? Hit a nerve, did I?" she started with what seemed to be a rather amused tone.

"What's there to be ashamed of? You lost your memories, yet the first thing everyone started doing was blaming you for what happened…it was only natural that you psychologically took on the persona of a bully." Maleficent explained as she waved one of her hands in a dismissive manner.

"Though I guess you appeared more like a tormentor for most of the people on the island since you escalated from harsh pranks to actually hurting them." she continued, all while Sora kept her head turned away.

The teen clenching her jaw tightly out of anger, frustration, sadness, but mostly regret. Her also closing her eyes as tears started to fall from them, to which her breathing began to become ragged. However, none of this stopped the woman as she just kept speaking in her amused voice.

"I suppose it's to your own fortune that none of the adults on your island noticed, nor caught you in the act. Too bad you had to 'snap out of it' though, you would have become a great apprentice of mine, had you fallen deeper into your own darkness." Maleficent said while shrugging briefly at the end, as if disappointed with the outcome.

"It's all because 'he' arrived in time to stop you, as well as 'her' forgiveness that made you revert back to your old ways." she all but muttered to herself, the woman seeming to be thinking of a way to try and get Sora to go back to being cruel again.

Upon these words, Sora just turned away and started walking. Her shame for the past finally reached its boiling point, which lead for her to just go toward the entrance of the lobby. Yet Maleficent continued to remain at her side, the witch smirking at the disheartened expression on the teen's features.

"Oh~? You still hold 'that' much regret? Even though you were only like that for a few months when you were merely five years old?" the woman questioned as she raised her brow at the brown-haired girl.

"There must be a limit to how guilty you can feel." she continued, yet immediately after hearing the word 'guilty', Sora's mind was flooded with the memory of what happened between her and Marluxia on the thirteenth floor.

This made the teen tense up greatly as her eyes flashed gold, merely from thinking about this event again. Sora having done her best not to think about it, since she always felt a sudden rush of emotion each time it crossed her mind. Yet this had only lasted for a few brief moments as Sora recovered and calmed both her mind and body. All the while, Maleficent just gazed at the teen silently as if watching everything that transpired inside of Sora's mind.

"My my…it seems that word is like a trigger now." the witch claimed, her taking a few steps toward the teen.

Though, there was no response for a few moments as the brown-haired girl seemed to be thinking very deeply about something. But once she turned to Maleficent again, said woman blinked a few times at the look of sheer hatred in her eyes. "Teach me how to use all of the powers you can use. I'm going to crush Marluxia the next time we meet."

* * *

 **And here we go, Sora is asking Maleficent to help her gain power. Will Maleficent accept? Will Sora's friends realize something is wrong with her in time? Find out next time on the next episode of Inverted Sky~! I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you did in a review so I know I'm going in a good direction with all this. ;) Oh...and don't worry about the sudden emotional turn Sora had at the end there, that'll be explained. Though, it kinda was already...so kudos to those that will already have it figured out. ^^ Until next time everyone.**


	15. Castle Oblivion part XV

**I'd like to make a quick thank you to everyone who have reviewed, favored and alerted this story. It really means a lot to me and I greatly appreciate the support. I hope to keep entertaining you with this story as it continues and that you'll stick with me all the way to the end. Anyway, onto the chapter. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 15: Castle Oblivion part XV

After two hours of rest, another three hours of training and an extra hour of rest afterward, the four finally made their way out of Olympus Coliseum. Them being on the seventh floor now, yet the group didn't seem as weary about moving forward as they had been before. Each of the four feeling much more confident now, even though they had only trained for a total average of seven hours.

However, the brown-haired teen appeared to be uncharacteristically silent, as well as, even more driven to keep going further up. Something of which Kairi had picked up on as she walked beside her quiet friend with a raised brow. Yet despite this, Sora didn't even seem to notice her as the girl's eyes were fixed directly ahead of her.

"Did something happen while we were asleep?" the auburn-haired teen questioned, her quickly stepping up in front of the other girl so she couldn't keep walking.

Sora blinked to her a few times as if surprised at the sudden appearance of her friend within her field of vision. "Huh?" was all she muttered out at first.

This making it obvious that she had been so deep in thought, she had likely been oblivious to everything around her. Though, the girl quickly recovered and gave a sheepish smile; "It's that obvious, huh?" she asked back with a tone to match her expression.

"Well…you have been ignoring all of us since we said our farewells to your memories of Phil and Hercules." Kairi responded as she shrugged briefly, though she soon gained an expecting gaze.

It being clear that she wanted the brown-haired girl to explain herself, which just made Sora glance to the side for a few moments. "Well…" she started silently, her not wanting to talk about what she's been doing in secret for the past five hours as she never took a rest.

"…I've been thinking about what'll happen when we reach the top of this castle." the teen continued as her gaze slowly shifted toward the floor.

"I'd like to say that we're ready to take on Marluxia, but I'm honestly not sure yet." Sora stated silently, her not liking to admit such a thing.

However, Kairi just smiled and gently karate chopped the top of her friend's head. "You're over thinking things Sora." she started while placing her hands upon her hips.

"So long as we're all together, we can overcome any obstacle…no matter what it may be." the auburn-haired girl continued as a confident smile spread on her features.

"She's right." Goofy added as he came up to the right side of Sora, while Donald walked up to her left.

"We've gotten through a lot, even when we shouldn't have." he continued, him smiling widely to the teen.

"But we did it because we worked together and never doubted ourselves." Donald claimed with a quick nod and a small smile of his own.

"So long as we're together…" Kairi began as she brought her hand forward.

"…we can overcome anything." Donald continued as he followed the girl's lead and placed his hand over hers.

"All for one…" Goofy started, all while putting his gloved hand over Donald's feathered one.

As Sora looked between each of them, she slowly smiled softly and put her hand upon Goofy's. "…and one for all." she whispered as they all kept their hands together for a few seconds.

After a moment, they slowly moved their hands away and started to walk toward the stairway where the next set of doors were. Though Sora had soon shifted her gaze to her friends briefly and giggled.

"You guys realize just how corny that was just now, right?" she asked, to which the others glanced over to her and just started to laugh lightly with a nod in response.

"Maybe…but it was still effective, wasn't it?" Kairi questioned back, leading for Sora to nod her head.

"It most certainly was." she muttered as they continued on their way.

However, as they walked on, Sora slowly fell behind while her gaze shifted to what seemed to be an empty space to her right. Yet within the teen's eyes, Maleficent merely looked at her with amusement very clear on her features.

"Was it now? And what happened to all of that anger and drive to kill Marluxia?" the witch questioned as she raised her brow slowly.

'It's gone. As if it was just a mere trance I was under after I thought about the things Marluxia said.' the teen explained within her mind as she walked up the stairs, only to see her friends standing still.

Sora quickly narrowed her eyes to this, yet she then blinked a few times when she saw Vexen standing next to Riku. The silver-haired boy still having his dark outfit on as he just smirked confidently toward the four. Though three of them were staring in shock of seeing the teen, Sora simply raised a brow and tilted her head to the side.

"Eh? You're still following him around?" she started while walking up in front of her other friends.

"I thought for sure that you'd have beaten him by now." the brown-haired girl continued, crossing her arms and huffing briefly in the process.

"Though I suppose he's not too bad since he only seems interested in weird science stuff." Sora finished as she shrugged her shoulders at the end.

Despite Riku opening his mouth to speak, Vexen interrupted him as he took a quick step forward and raised a fist slightly. "You impudent little child! You better start respecting me and my position, or I'll experiment to see how you handle getting your legs broken!" he claimed in an upset tone, yet he sounded more as if he was simply whining.

"Yeah yeah…" the brown-haired teen began with a wave of her hand; "…maybe if you don't sound like a tantruming child each time you lose, we might take you more seriously."

Immediately following her comment, Vexen growled in response and pointed toward Sora with a finger. "Riku, shut that mouth of hers at once!" he ordered out loudly, his voice echoing throughout the hall.

Yet as Riku took a few steps toward the group, Sora just glanced back to the other three and winked. "Don't worry…let me handle this. You guys just make sure Vexen doesn't interfere." She whispered quickly before meeting Riku halfway.

Both teens summoning their weapons in the meantime, yet Kairi quickly took a few steps forward. "Wait a second you two!" she started as her tone and expression were one of worry and confusion.

"Why are you fighting?! Riku, I thought we came here to find Sora! Why are you joining up with them?!" the auburn-haired girl continued while looking to the boy and pointing toward Vexen.

Said man huffing silently as he crossed his arms and muttered; "You know, it's rude to talk about someone when they're right in front of you."

Yet all of them just ignored this as Sora and Riku never broke their fixed gazes upon one another. Even as the latter of the two spoke, he still didn't look away. "Because it's something that I have to do. You wouldn't understand." was all he said, him then shifting his body into a fighting position.

"Then explain it to me!" Kairi called out as she was highly distressed over her two best friends fighting once more.

"It's okay Kairi." Sora whispered out, her too never shifting her gaze.

"This isn't like before. Just trust us, it'll be fine." she continued, to which she finally turned toward her auburn-haired friend and smiled.

Said girl blinked a few times while looking between the two, which lead for her to slowly nod her head in response and step back. "Alright…I'll trust you two." she whispered silently just as both of them vanished from sight.

They then reappeared back before the stairs and stood on opposite sides of this part of the room. "As a fair warning…" Riku started silently as Kairi, Donald, Goofy and even Vexen all gathered at the top of the stairs to watch.

"…I've become three times stronger than what I was when we first fought in this castle." he continued, to which his eyes narrowed slowly upon the girl.

Sora simply smiled lightly and shrugged her shoulders; "Well it's good to know a precise amount of how much you've improved." she began, her shifting to the side slightly.

"Maybe you could let me know my progress." the brown-haired teen finished as a black aura formed around her.

However, both Riku's and Vexen's eyes widened as they not only saw a green outline in this aura, but also felt Maleficent's power radiating from Sora as well. This shocking them greatly, yet the silver-haired boy had to quickly snap out of this as his opponent took a step forward and vanished.

"Don't worry…" Sora whispered from behind Riku, whom quickly spun around with a swing of his weapon.

Yet he hit nothing but air as his now narrowed eyes slowly widened once more when Sora's hand touched his shoulder. It feeling almost cold to the touch as it made his body tense up while a shiver ran up and down his spine.

"…I'm not going to hurt you." were her last words before the entire area around them went black.

* * *

 **And here we go Sora vs Riku Replica, round 2. And just in case any of you think that a formula is forming, you're in for quite a surprise with the next chapter. ;) Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed and let me know what you thought in a review. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for character inclusions, interactions, or even a whole world you'd like to see, I'll take it under consideration for one that might show up for when I finally get to Kingdom Hearts 3, or even Dream Drop Distance...depending on what it is of course. ;) And with that being said...until next time everyone.**


	16. Castle Oblivion part XVI

**Ugh, I didn't get to have as much as I was hoping for with this one due to time, but I hope you guys and gals still enjoy it. I was going to have a much cooler fight between Sora and Riku Replica, but I guess it'll just be more material for another fight. Anyway, onto the chapter~! ^^**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 16: Castle Oblivion part XVI

As the area went black for everyone, Kairi and Donald quickly tried to use an illumination spell to light up their surroundings. However, these never seemed to activate as the room remained completely dark. But what became more distressing was the fact that they could all hear many clashing sounds that echoed softly around them.

All the while, Sora and Riku were swinging their weapons toward one another at great speed, only to collide their blades together. Though while the silver-haired boy used both hands while attacking and deflecting, the brown-haired girl was only using one. Both of them still being able to see one another just fine in the darkness as they continued to slash at each other. Yet this sight wasn't restricted to them, as Vexen was also able to view their fight with great intrigue in his bright green eyes.

This interest however, only seemed to increase more and more as he quickly noticed that Sora's feet were firmly planted in one spot. All while Riku moved all around the younger teen as he tried almost everything he could to get her to move through his sword skills. Of which had no visible effect since she either deflected or parried his attacks, only to make her own and force the boy backward.

Riku glared his eyes on the girl for a brief moment before he surrounded himself in dark energy and charged forward. But just before he reached Sora, he vanished and reappeared to her right side almost instantly. This making the brown-haired teen quickly bring her blade out to block it. However, the boy was no longer there as he had instantly moved to her opposite side and swung his blade down toward her.

In the same instant, Sora shifted her gaze toward this attack, brought her free hand up and caught Riku's weapon. The owner of said blade looked at this with a shocked expression for a split second, yet he quickly moved to the side in order to make a follow up attack. But he was almost immediately stopped when he was jerked backward, to which he quickly realized that Sora wasn't releasing his sword.

"Not so fast..." Sora whispered as she smirked softly, yet this only served to make Riku feel more urgency to get away.

"...I need to ask you to do something for me." she continued silently before pulling Riku toward her slightly.

This allowing her to speak directly into his ear, despite the boy panicking to get away. "Watch over them for a while for me, okay?" she requested quietly, to which the silver-haired boy blinked a few times before his vision went black when Sora hit the back of his head with a hand.

Immediately following Riku's fall to the floor, the brown-haired girl turned her gaze to Vexen and narrowed her eyes slightly. Yet she then brought her hand out and generated what appeared to be a Graviga spell within it, to which the platinum-blonde-haired man raised a brow in question. Though it became instantly clear of what she was about to do as she split the spell in two and shot one of the halves at him. This making his eyes briefly widen while being quickly dragged toward Sora, her keeping the other part of her spell in hand.

But just before he was about to slam into the teen, she generated a series of green flames along with a similar flood of black energy as the Organization members when they retreated. This causing both of them to disappear instantly, to which the veil of darkness surrounding the area lifted away and all the conscious three saw was Riku laying on the floor.

"Sora?" Kairi asked out while quickly rushing down the steps and began looking around.

"Sora?!" she repeated a bit louder, to which she ran back up the steps to check the next side of the room.

Yet no matter where she looked, her brown-haired friend was no where in sight. "SORA!" she called out loudly, her voice echoing for a few moments before finally dying down.

"She's gone." Goofy muttered silently while slowly hanging his head down.

"And so is Vexen." Donald stated quickly as they each glanced around briefly as if to make sure said man wasn't about to make a surprise attack against them.

Though with no other signs of life, each of their gazes immediately turned toward the previous set of doors as they suddenly began to open. The moment they had, both Riku and Mickey came rushing through as if in a hurry to move forward. "We found you!" Riku called out in a clear tone of relief.

But this relief quickly vanished the moment he saw the other Riku laying unconscious on the floor. "Tch...I should have figured." he muttered while summoning his weapon quickly as a precaution.

"E-Eh?" Kairi voiced out while she, Donald and Goofy each looked between the two Rikus.

"There are two of you?!" Donald exclaimed in a highly confused tone before his billed mouth just hung open for a few seconds.

"No..." Riku began as his eyes narrowed on his counterpart; "...that guy is a fake me created by that guy Vexen in order to test my and Sora's strength." he continued quickly, yet glanced around the room as if expecting to see either the teen or the man in the black hood.

"Speaking of...did you guys find Sora yet?" Mickey questioned while looking to each of the three.

All of whom shifted their gazes to each other and nodded slowly; "Yes...but..." Kairi began as she gave one more look around, as if hopeful her friend would somehow be there.

"...she suddenly vanished, along with that guy Vexen." she finished, making both Riku's and Mickey's eyes narrow in response.

"This isn't good...getting her alone is exactly what Organization XIII wants." Riku muttered silently before grinding his teeth.

'I hope you'll be alright, Sora.' the silver-haired teen thought silently, along with the others.

Meanwhile, said teen was standing across from Vexen in a strangely dark, yet distorted world. It appearing much like the one Zexion had brought Sora and her friends into when he fought against them. Yet Vexen himself seemed rather unimpressed as his eyes narrowed slightly on the girl in front of him. "So then...what do you plan to do in here?" he questioned while crossing his arms.

"Well...since we can basically do just about anything we want in this place, I was thinking about beating you once and for all." Sora stated with a small smirk on her features while a small circle of green fire surrounded her.

"Hmph, even if you somehow preformed this spell that takes us to this pocket dimension Maleficent created...you won't be able to hold it long enough to defeat me." Vexen claimed as he glanced around the area for a moment before back to Sora.

"Also, how did you manage to achieve such a thing? I can't imagine that the witch would have been willing to teach you such a thing." the man continued, him raising a brow toward her while slowly uncrossing his arms.

"Actually...she is an evil fairy, and you would be surprised at what she's willing to teach me." Sora said with a slightly wider smirk than before as she took a few steps forward, the ring of fire following her.

"And besides...I decided against trying to fight you in here." the teen continued while slowly stopping.

This made Vexen blink a few times to the teen before raising his brow once more in question; "Oh~? So you figured out the weakness of this farce for yourself, did you?" he more of stated than asked with a small, yet rather cocky grin on his features.

"As a matter of fact, I could hold you in this space easily for well over an hour if I wanted. And that's also including time I would spend fighting against you." Sora said in a confident tone, which the man quickly took notice of.

"If that's the case...then why not fight me?" Vexen asked as his eyes briefly narrowed upon noticing that the teen's conviction didn't waver even slightly.

"Because I want you to help me." was Sora's answer, making the man blink many more times before starting to laugh in response.

"And why on earth would I do that?!" he questioned while continuing to laugh for a few moment.

"Because of what you just did." was the teen's answer after the man's laughter started to soften, to which Vexen just looked at her slightly confused as his smile slowly faded.

His expression quickly turning to a shocked one as he placed a hand over his mouth and looked at Sora with slightly widened eyes. "N-No...this is..." he started, yet found no words to explain himself.

"Axel once spoke about not having a heart, and after quite a bit of thought..." the teen began while taking another few steps toward the man.

'...and a bit of help from Maleficent...' she mused in her mind quickly before continuing with her words.

"...I came to the conclusion that because you have no hearts, you can't 'feel' anything." Sora stated, yet her tone sounded a bit sad about such a fact.

"So any 'emotions' you portray are more of a natural reaction, almost like muscle memory. However, you just expressed true amusement without falsifying that emotion, so it stands to reason that there is more going on with you guys than even you might expect." she claimed, all while Vexen gazed down at the ground.

"If you help me, I'll help you with your research about this matter so you can finally understand what is going on." were her words before she stepped up directly in front of the man with a small smile.

"You don't have to give me an answer now, but I actually want to know about this as well. And while I might not be as great of a scientist as you, this matter of; 'those without hearts still being able to feel emotion', is a fascinating one." Sora finished as the man finally looked to her.

Though he remained silent for a few moments, he just let out a silent 'tch' before narrowing his eyes on her. "I wouldn't need any help in discovering the secrets to this!" he claimed while clenching his hands into fists as if ready to fight.

"However..." Vexen continued silently as he slowly relaxed his body; "...I suppose having an extra pair of hands would allow my research to go much faster." he whispered, almost to himself.

"But if you weigh me down or give me data that leads no where, I will have to rethink our agreement." the man stated firmly as Sora just smiled softly and nodded her head in response.

* * *

 **And there you have it, the first alliance has been made. But how long will it last? And how will the other Organization members take this news if, or when they hear of it? Find out next chapter when I continue with a scene that was supposed to be at the end of this one, but had to be cut since I ran out of time and had to get my exams done before the deadline. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and will let me know what you thought in a review. Until next time everyone.**


	17. Castle Oblivion part XVII

**Sorry for this being late, I didn't have much opportunity to write this chapter. But I hope all of you still enjoy it regardless.**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 17: Castle Oblivion part XVII

Sora narrowed her eyes on the computer screen in front of her, it displaying a red crystal heart in the center while a black-lined circle was positioned directly to the right of it. Though as a red line began to form from the heart toward the circle, it quickly faded until it just vanished completely. This made the teen huff in response before crossing her arms; "Failed again." she whispered to herself.

The brown-haired girl stood on the far side of what appeared to be a rather large laboratory, which had all white walls and appliances. Though there were a few spots of colors in various areas, the whole room seemed to be centered around the theme of blankness. However, there were two black spots in the room, which consisted of Sora herself and Vexen. Said man being on the other side of the laboratory as he seemed to be looking up at the screen that was in front of him.

Vexen first attempting to see if what he had felt was actually emotion, or if it was just fake. Yet despite having discovered that it was indeed true emotion in the first few minutes, he kept running simulations to see if he could find the origin. However, since he too wasn't finding any answers, he kept insulting his computer for not being able to find the reason behind his ability to feel emotion.

Yet what made them the only two black spots in the laboratory was the fact that Vexen had given the teen an Organization XIII jacket just before they came to his lab. Him stating that it would allow her to remain undetected while inside the lab, something that made Sora wonder of where this place actually was. Though the moment she put the coat on, it adjusted to her size instantly and transformed the rest of her clothes to some degree.

Her now having tight pants formed fully to her legs, though they were mostly covered by her long jacket. Of which had sleeves that were worn tightly around her arms in a similar fashion that Axel's did with his own limbs. While her gloves were now the same as the members of the Organization, her boots remained the same shape as her previous ones. However, they were now almost fully black in color, with silver lining, buckles and laces.

This sudden change in attire fascinating Sora for a few moments, yet it quickly came to an end after Vexen gave her the task of conducting experiments. Her having to discover if the source of his sudden emotions came from his old heart within the depths of the Realm of Darkness. Though after twenty minutes of trial and error, the teen was still no closer to having a true answer.

After her latest failure, Sora slowly tilted her head up and tapped her chin with a gloved finger while humming silently. 'Trying to figure out how Vexen was able to feel true emotion, despite not having a heart, is proving to be much more difficult than expected.' she thought in her mind while glancing over to Vexen as he let out an irritated grunt.

It being clear that he wasn't having any better luck than the brown-haired girl herself. Which made her let out a heavy sigh since she wasn't feeling very confident that she could find an answer. 'Vexen is obviously the most science-savvy between us. If he can't find an answer, how can I be expected to?' she thought to herself with another sigh.

All the while, Sora refreshed the data before continuing her work by typing in; 'Alternate heart wavelength Enter Run simulation Enter' on the computer's keyboard. Immediately following this, the red line started to move from the heart, to the circle once more. Yet it stopped midway through before slowly vanishing once more, to which Sora groaned and tilted her head down in deep thought.

'Alright...I think it's safe to assume that it's not a connection between his body and his heart. Regardless of how many tests I run, it doesn't seem like it's possible for his heart to make a connection with his body from within the Realm of Darkness. I guess it's because of the strength of my heart and Kairi's help that I was able to come back from loosing my heart.' she pondered while slowly shifting her gaze up at the white ceiling.

"Which means that there must be an outside force, right?" Maleficent muttered from the side as she ended up getting interested in the experiment after ten minutes of having no answers.

'Indeed, but what outside force could have caused such an occurrence?' Sora questioned in her mind with a glanced toward the woman.

"Hmm..." the evil fairy hummed out as she slowly closed her eyes.

Though the two remained silent during their thoughts, it was only five minutes later that Maleficent's eyes reopened and she looked to Sora with a small smirk.

"Well, what has changed recently that would allow the sudden change?" she continued, her smirk widening slightly as it seemed like she figured out what a possible answer might be.

'Well...I assume that he arrived here, met Riku, met me, fought with me, met me again, fought with my friends, and then met me just now. So...I think a lot has changed recently for him.' Sora responded while sweat dropping lightly midway through.

Though Maleficent briefly rolled her eyes from this, she cleared her throat and gestured toward the screen. "Just change whose heart that is." was all she stated as the teen blinked a few times in response.

She then blinked a few more times in realization before typing in the command to change the heart's source. After this, she placed her hand onto a small box just to the left of the keyboard. It being what Vexen placed his own hand upon when inputting his data into the computer, him saying that it was so that she could conduct her experiments. This placing Sora's own data into the computer as the crystal heart soon changed from a red color, to a golden one.

Despite noticing the sudden change in hue, the teen just typed in the command to start the simulation. This creating a bright golden line that slowly move from the heart, all the way to the circle. Upon contact, Sora took on a grin before slowly blinking a few times as the black line suddenly turned golden. The brown-haired teen tilted her head to the side in response to this for a moment before slowly taking on a wide grin. "This is it." she whispered in a proud tone, to which she looked over to Maleficent.

"We figured it out." Sora said a bit louder in order to catch the attention of Vexen, whom quickly turned around.

His eyes soon widening as he saw the successful simulation on the screen, to which he rushed over to this area and stood next to Sora as he just watched the simulation run multiple times. "Remarkable...the body fully accepts the heart the moment a connection is made." he whispered silently before looking over to Sora with a raised brow.

"But what did you change? That is obviously not any normal heart." Vexen continued as he pointed toward the golden heart displayed on the screen.

"Well..." Sora started with a shrug of her shoulders; "...after manipulating the wavelength multiple times of the heart you provided, I came to the conclusion that it was just impossible for a connection to be made. But after I placed my data into the computer and used my heart instead...the connection was made on the first simulation." she explained with a small grin curling her lips.

"So it looks like it's because of the connection you made with me that caused your emotions to return the way they did." the teen finished as she made a brief glance toward Maleficent, her giving a thankful nod to her when Vexen had turned his gaze back to the screen.

The man being utterly astounded from this information as he could tell from the fact that the simulation had worked, her words were the truth. Yet in the middle of all this bewilderment, there was a flash in the man's eyes as he sent a brief glance toward the box he and Sora used to put their data into the computer. Though after a moment, he turned to face the teen and raised a brow to her with crossed arms.

"I suppose you did a decent enough job at figuring out this mystery within the amount of time you had." he started while shrugging his shoulders quickly.

"Though you might make for a good scientist...you're still miles away from reaching my level." Vexen continued as he shifted his gaze toward the screen once more for a few moments.

"But..." he muttered, him looking back to the teen with a small smirk; "...I suppose I can help you along to better yourself in this field." he finished with a slightly wider smirk.

This made Sora grin widely and nod her head quickly in response to his words; "That sounds awesome!" she exclaimed in excitement.

"However...it will have to begin at a latter date." the man stated suddenly as he cleared his throat.

"For now..." he continued on while raising a hand and creating a dark portal to the side of them; "...I wish to analyze this data and find out more about this. So you may return to the castle in the mean time since I'm sure your friends will be wondering what happened to you."

Sora blinked a few times to him as his demeanor seemed to have changed slightly, yet she just nodded and shrugged. "Alright...just make sure I'm closer to the top than before since I'm really getting tired of going through my memories one after another like this." she stated in a near huff while crossing her arms.

"As you wish." was all Vexen said as the portal briefly changed the direction in which the darkness flowed before returning to normal.

The brown-haired teen smirked to this and nodded once more before waving her hand in farewell to Vexen as she vanished through the portal. This just making the man smirk widely as the portal disappeared, to which he typed on the keyboard briefly and brought up all of Sora's data onto the screen.

"Perfect. This will allow me to finally create what I wanted from the very beginning." he whispered out silently while chuckling softly to himself.

Though after catching himself in this laughter, he quickly stopped and glanced toward where he made the portal for the teen. "Hmph...you certainly leave a lasting impression, don't you?" he muttered quietly with a sigh.

All the while, Sora arrived to the other side of the portal and onto the eleventh level of the castle. Despite not knowing the exact floor she was on, she could tell by the power emanating from the top of the castle, that she was much closer to the top than before. This made her take on a small grin as she walked up the stairs that lead to the next set of doors. However, two people were standing there waiting for her, which made her blink a few times in response.

"Oh~?" she hummed out while smirking softly; "It looks like I'll not only get that rematch...but also another lesson in magic from that book." Sora finished while glancing between Lexaeus and Zexion.

* * *

 **And there you have it, I actually cut the original start of this chapter, which was also going to be the end of the previous chapter. Though, I make mention of it in the beginning of this one anyway. It was going to be Vexen giving Sora the coat and the transformation of her clothes, then end with them arriving in the laboratory and Sora being all amazed. But I just decided to just reference it instead of writing it all out so that I could get this chapter out today, rather than being another day late. ^^' Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed and will let me know if you did in a review. I'm also still taking requests if anyone is interested. Anyway, until next time everyone.**


	18. Castle Oblivion part XVIII

**This is a bit of a longer one than I intended, but since the last one was late...I decided to put in a bit extra into this chapter to make up for it. I hope you all enjoy. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 18: Castle Oblivion part XVIII

Sora just grinned lightly between the two men standing in front of her, both of whom were looking at her attire in a bit of shock. "Where did you get one of our coats?" Zexion questioned with slightly narrowed eyes upon the teen.

"Hmm?" the brown-haired girl hummed out while looking to her clothes briefly.

"Oh right, I forgot to take the jacket off." she muttered silently as if to herself, to which she then just smiled sheepishly toward the pair.

"Well...I got it from one of your associates in exchange for a little assistance." the teen continued while talking directly at the two in front of her.

Both of them keeping their gaze narrowed on the girl, all while wondering of whom it could be. Yet their very first suspect was someone whom suddenly appeared from a dark portal just behind Sora herself. "Axel." Lexaeus uttered aloud as he shifted his hard gaze to said man.

"Well hello again, Sora." the red-haired man greeted while taking a few steps toward the teen.

"Axel." the girl greeted back as she glanced to him from over her shoulder.

"That outfit looks good on you...black is definitely your color." Axel said silently, all while receiving suspicious glares from Lexaeus and Zexion.

"Why thank you...but what brings you here?" Sora questioned as her eyes shifted back toward the other two men.

"Just to deliver a quick message from Namine." was the red-haired man's response, yet the teen still didn't look back.

"And? What is her message?" the girl questioned as she was now fully on edge.

"Well..." Axel started as he summoned his weapons in a burst of flames; "...how about we test your strength to see whether or not you should even get her message?"

Sora finally glanced back to him once more, though she soon took on a small smirk. "All three of you at once, huh?" she whispered out with a rather excited glint in her eyes.

"Well...why not? I have no doubt that you could beat the both of them without showing your true power. So adding one more should pose a much better challenge." the red-haired man claimed in a rather knowing tone as he shifted into a fighting pose.

All the while, Lexaeus and Zexion shared a brief glace as they now seemed quite sure that it wasn't Axel who gave Sora the coat of the Organization. However, they appeared to push the question of who it was to the back of their minds as they also prepared to fight by summoning their weapons of choice. This simply made the brown-haired girl take on a grin as her eyes shifted to a golden color, but there was also a nearly unseen ring of green around her pupil.

"Alright you three. How about we make this into a game? It'll fit with that little saying you liked telling me so much when I first entered the castle?" Sora began as her gaze shifted from one man to the next.

"If you win, you two get to know who gave me this coat...but you also aren't allowed to do anything about it. Though if you want to retaliate, you'll have to give me a portion of your power. To find is to lose, and to lose is to find...right?" she continued while looking between Zexion and Lexaeus, to which she then turned to Axel as she spoke further.

"Also, you get to keep the message from me, however...you also aren't allowed to tell it to anyone else until I earn the right to hear it. Of course, if you do tell it to anyone else...you have to give me a portion of your power" the brown-haired girl stated, though she soon took in a deep breath and grinned once more.

"But if I win...all of you have to do me one single favor. However, I won't be able to tell my friends, I cannot request for you to help anyone aside from myself and...I will return this coat to you before leaving this castle." she continued, her glancing to each of them.

As they all glanced to one another, they seemed to slowly reach a consensus as they nodded their heads in response. "Alright...you got yourself a dea-" Axel started, yet was cut off as another dark portal appeared to the side.

This allowing Larxene to appear just to the right of Sora, to which the blond took on a small grin of her own. "My my...this sounds rather interesting. I think I'll get in on this...so what do I get if we win?" she questioned in a challenging tone while readying her own weapons after a brief burst of electricity.

Sora raised brow to her for a moment before grinning once more and shrugging her shoulders; "How about...I show you a small trick I learned about lightning magic?" she started, to which the blond raised a brow in question as if waiting for her to elaborate.

"It's a mutation spell that raises the power of specific types of magic to the point of being almost god-like." the teen answered, causing a huge spark of interest to shine in the blond's eyes.

"Oh~? And why would I believe you would have such a trick?" Larxene asked in a suspicious tone, yet she couldn't hold back her sheer excitement about the possibility.

"I've learned quite a lot since we last met, and have achieved a level far beyond what I had when facing against Ansem. But how about this, if I fail to make good on my end of the deal...you can pick a penalty for me. Though if I succeed...then you have to agree never to use that power against my friends. If you do, then you must give me a portion of your power." Sora responded, her finally summoning her Keyblade.

"Deal?" the teen muttered out as each of the Organization members slowly nodded their heads.

"Deal." they said in unison before they all charged forward at once.

As they came toward the brown-haired girl, they all readied their own unique strikes. Lexaeus swung his axe down with great strength, while Axel coated his chakrams in flames and threw them at the teen. Zexion leapt up into the air, created a great number of blue orbs in a circle in front of him and blasted ice magic toward his opponent. Lastly, Larxene threw four of her lightning covered daggers at Sora, while stabbing the other four into the ground to create a surge of electricity directly under the teen.

All the while, Sora remained completely still with a confident smirk on her features. "Lets do this." she whispered, black markings being seen spreading across her face in the millisecond it took for all of the attacks to reach their target.

The combined impact caused the entire castle to shake violently as the combined elements of fire, ice and electricity caused a screen of smoke and fog flood the room. All the while, Lexaeus' strike has struck the floor as each of the four quickly realized that the girl was gone. This making them all quickly rush to the center and go back-to-back in order to make sure that they couldn't be attacked from behind. Each of them scanning the room as quickly as possible, yet because of the smoke and fog, it was impossible to see more than five feet in front of them.

"Tch...nice going with the smoke." Larxene muttered in a heavily sarcastic tone.

"Oh like you didn't contribute to that?" Axel countered as he had a very similar tone as the blond.

"Quiet you two...we need to remember that this is the one who defeated the superior's Heartless." Lexaeus muttered silently as he continued to scan the room as the smoke and fog didn't seem to be thinning out at all.

"Indeed...and she claimed to have reached a level beyond that point, so we have to remain on guard." Zexion added with a nod to the larger man's words.

"Which mean's no fighting amongst ourselves." he continued while quickly turning to the side as rushing foot steps could suddenly be heard.

However, just as quickly as they came, they faded away and vanished. Though seconds later, they were heard once again, yet it was on the opposite side of the room now. This caused the four to continue shifting their gaze around as eventually, it sounded as if Sora was all around them. Seconds later, Lexaeus was suddenly sent flying to the side, yet none of the others were able to see how it happened.

Next was Zexion as he quickly flipped through the pages of his book to find an appropriate spell. However, he was cut short of finding one as he was instantly tripped from behind and began falling backward. Though his decent immediately stopped as something slammed into his back and sent him straight into the wall in front of him.

Despite Axel and Larxene moving away from one another, they remained back-to-back while trying to find Sora in the smoke and fog. Which almost seemed like it was starting to thicken and restrict their sight even further. This made the pair narrow their eyes as neither Lexaeus or Zexion could be seen at this point. Yet they would also lose track of each other, as the sound of feet landing on the ceiling above them lead for the two to quickly jump in either direction. Their actions allowed them to avoid the burst of ice magic coming toward them, but they now couldn't see each other at all.

After looking around quickly from every little sound, they each started hearing foot steps all around them once again. Though, within just a few moments, all four of the Organization members were being attacked from all sides with various types of magic. Lexaeus faced lightning magic, which he wasn't able to dodge from due to the sheer speed of the spells. Zexion contended with fire magic that varied from red, to green, to blue, the latter of them being the most powerful and hottest. Axel simply took to dodging the ice spells that nearly backed him into a corner, which he wasn't able to see in the thick veil of smoke and fog. Lastly, Larxene became completely frustrated from the sand magic that her lightning had absolutely no effect against as it took the form of a human-sized, two headed snake.

Though, due to the sheer number and variety of the spells, it quickly became clear to each of the four that they were too weak to actually hurt them. This lead for the blond woman to quickly slam her daggers into the floor and blast a burst of lightning in every direction. Of which not only destroyed the sand snake, but also cleared the smoke and fog. While it has also hit the other Organization members, they didn't appear to have taken any damage from the strike. "Hmph...problem solved." she muttered silently with a small smirk curling her lips.

"Would it kill you to warn us?" Axel muttered while shivering briefly as if to shake of the electricity.

"Hmph...don't be such a pansy." was all the blond responded with, causing the red-haired man to simply roll his eyes in response.

Though as each of them looked around, Sora was finally seen just standing in front of the next door with her arms crossed. Her somehow able to see through all of the smoke and fog to create these attacks on the four. "Well now...that was fun." she whispered as her arms slowly uncrossed.

"Hmph...you're a dangerous kid when you wanna be, huh?" Axel muttered with a small smirk on his features.

"It wasn't want I had in mind for our rematch, but I can certainly sense that you have attained a great strength. Perhaps not physically...but in sheer power, you far surpassed me." Lexaeus stated, him almost gaining a smirk while looking to the teen.

"Those spells you were using...one of them was normal...another was Maleficent's...but the other..." Zexion began as his gaze hardened on the teen briefly.

"How did attain Hades' flames?" he finished, to which the other three glanced to him briefly with blinking eyes.

"I asked him to let me used them." was all Sora responded with, to which the four simply nodded in acceptance as they didn't doubt this in the slightest.

"But since when could you generate sand magic?" Larxene demanded in a low growl before turning to Zexion when continuing; "And since when was using sand magic a thing?"

The steel-blue-haired man just sighed heavily and looked to the sigh with a roll of his eyes. "Why do you think we all told you not to go to Agrabah? Jafar had the capability of using such magic." he responded in another sigh.

"Hmph...yeah well, he was still a push over. I could have beaten him without even breaking a sweat." the blond claimed while crossing her arms.

All of this just made Sora giggle softly while looking to each of them; "You know..." she started with a lingering glance to the four.

"...I originally only wanted to get along with all of you because it was what Kairi wanted. But now, I like you guys a lot." she continued, making her 'opponents' look at her with blinking eyes.

"Which is why...I wanna finish this fight quickly so that I can sit down and talk to all of you." the brown-haired teen finished as she took a few steps forward.

"Well, we're supposed to be on a mission..." Lexaeus started while he entered into a fighting pose, to which his power started surging around him.

"...but out of respect for your warrior spirit, if you win...I will abide by your wishes." he finished as his smirk reappeared slowly.

"Hmph...I don't know about any 'warrior spirit' stuff, but I kinda already agreed to talk if she wins." Axel muttered while creating two pillars of fire where his chakrams had once been.

"Hmph...whatever." Larxene sighed out, her bringing both hands out and began charging a huge ball of lightning magic in front of her.

"I suppose I might as well. Interacting with you these few times has already given me remarkable ideas for new spells." Zexion whispered while his book levitated before him and began emitting a great amount of blue and green magic.

Sora simply grinned lightly to this as she just dismissed her Keyblade and slowly shifted her body to the side. She moved her legs far apart as she bowed down and pointed her hands downwards, with all the fingers closed, save for the index and middle fingers. She then began to slowly move her right hand until it pointed upwards and at the white ceiling above.

All the while, a huge, glowing, white magic circle appeared under her and covered almost half of the room itself. This made each of her four opponents blink in shock as they had never seen this sort of magic before. Though Sora just keeping grinning slightly while whispering out; "Ultimate Magic Blitz."

* * *

 **Oh~, cliff hanger. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, I tried to throw in both action and comedy...I hope I did well in blending them together. Let me know what all of you thought and have a great day, evening and night. Until next time everyone.**


	19. Castle Oblivion part XIX

**Alright everyone, things are starting to approach the climax of this story. I estimate that it'll be finished by around chapter 25, so keep staying tuned each week and please...enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 19: Castle Oblivion part XIX

As the magic circle formed, a large star could be seen inside this shape, while a triangle spun into the center of the star. Though, within a few moments of appearing, three circles shined brightly at the top three tips of the star. These glowing in a red, blue and yellow color respectfully. All the while, two of the three tips for the triangle also started to shine in a green and off-white color respectfully.

"Ultimate Magic Blitz."

Immediately following these words from Sora, the colored circles rose up from the floor to become spheres. Each of them hovered about eye level with the teen as she gave a small smirk toward her four opponents. All of who, had their own attacks ready as they quickly sent them at the brown-haired girl.

Axel's pillars of fire swiftly moved out in front of him to become a single and much larger one that flew toward Sora. Larxene's sphere of electricity quickly became a huge beam that zoomed at the teen with great speed. The blue orbs that were in front of Zexion quickly became larger as they created rays of light into a single point. This generating another ball of blue energy that expanded a great deal before being hurled toward the man's opponent. Lastly, Lexaeus lifted his axe over his head and swung it witch great power in a back-to-front motion. Upon doing so, the floor created a series of very large spikes that jutted outward in a path straight at Sora.

All the while, the teen just remained in her pose while watching all of these attacks come rushing towards her. She then took on a small smirk while standing up straight and raising her left hand into the air, all while still extending her pointer and middle fingers. Upon doing so, the three front spheres expanded to the size of beach balls, while the other two grew to the point of covering the teen completely.

As this occurred, Sora could no longer be seen as the three front spheres had then merged together to form an even larger one with the trio of colors swirling within it. But just as the four Organization member's attacks came close enough, the huge orb of magic had suddenly exploded. This disbursing all of the other attacks at once and engulfed the area in a blinding white light.

Despite their shocked expressions, none of the four could do anything but cover their eyes from the light. Yet as it consumed them, the force of the magic slammed them against the walls with great impacts. Though somehow, the attack itself didn't seem to injure them as they simply waited for the light to die down. But while they were pinned, one by one, they could each feel their powers being quickly sucked away.

Once the light diminished, they were finally released and slumped down to the floor with little to no strength left. "Whoa…" Axel muttered as he could barely gather the energy to keep himself upright without using the wall against his back.

"…that was pretty intense." he finished silently, to which he and the other three looked to the teen as she was standing in the middle of the room.

"Are you guys alright?" Sora whispered with blinking eyes while glancing to each of them.

Her words making all four just stare at her in a bit of shock, as none of them expected the girl to actually be concerned for their well-being. But even more shocking still, she went around to each one to check on their condition individually.

"I didn't mean to rough you guys up too much. That's why I used a little ability I discovered when I domesticated a Heartless to end the fight as quickly as possible." she continued with a small, yet sheepish smile curling her lips.

"Oh~? And what ability might that be?" Larxene questioned, her tone sounding almost offended that she had been beaten by something that also defeated a mere Heartless.

"I'm actually not quite sure yet…but it seems that I have the ability to purify a being through physical contact. Though from what I've discovered, it doesn't work against those who are unwilling." Sora explained while a grin spread on her features, as it was clear of what she was suggesting to them.

"Tch! Bull crap!" the blond claimed firmly, her either not believing this, or simply didn't wish to.

"Not at all…though it's kinda the reason why I used that spell in the first place." the brown-haired teen began as her smile turned sheepish once more.

"I knew it would distract all of you long enough for me to use that power, though I didn't know for sure if it would work until I tried using it." she continued with a quick giggle escaping her lips, it matching the expression on her face quite well.

Even though Larxene still didn't seem to want to believe this, she didn't argue against it. Nor did the others as they remained fully silent while listening to the teen's explanation. But while Axel and Lexaeus simply nodded their heads slowly in response, Zexion was staring at her in deep suspicion. His gaze quickly gaining attention as he then spoke up in a serious tone; "How do you know that spell to begin with?"

Sora turned to him with blinking eyes and a tilt of her head to the side slightly; "What do you mean?" she asked back silently.

"I mean…that spell should be impossible for you to know." Zexion claimed firmly, to which each of the others turned to him in curiosity.

"The spell 'Magic Blitz' is not a difficult spell to use for those who are as proficient with it as you are. However, the upgraded version; 'Ultimate Magic Blitz', is not possible for anyone who has not read the proper books to cast it. Much less to the control that you just preformed it with." the steel-blue-haired man stated further.

"So how did you use such a spell when you couldn't have possibly read a book that was destroyed almost ten years ago?" he finished, to which each of the other three Organization members blinked in shock and realization before turning back to the girl.

Sora however, simply blinked a few times and tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin a few times in thought. "Well…I've had a wide variety of teachers." is all she responded with as she just smiled lightly.

Yet despite her calmness, she was mentally growling at Maleficent. Said witch just chuckled in response with a shrug of her shoulders; "Oh, did I forget to mention that?" she asked in a false innocent tone.

'Geez, now they're definitely gonna know something is up. I'd rather not have everyone know you're inside of my heart…at least not until I'm ready to tell them.' the teen stated in her mind while receiving many suspicious stares from the four Organization members.

All of whom were finally getting their strength back and slowly, yet wobbly, stood back to their feet. After doing so, Sora smiled lightly to each of them and cleared her throat quickly. "A-Anyway...now that I've won, you guys have to honor your side of deal...right?" she asked more than stated, as if hoping none of them would back out of the deal.

Immediately following her words, the four Organization members glanced to each other briefly. Though, Larxene soon just huffed silently while crossing her arms and shifting her gaze to the side. "Hmph...whatever. Just call me when you want your favor." she muttered before disappearing in a sudden portal of darkness around her.

This caused the three men to either sigh or chuckle lightly in response, as they could tell Larxene was more embarrassed than angry from the loss. Yet Axel soon took a step forward and shrugged his shoulders while looking to Sora; "I suppose I'll honor our agreement. Though, would you like to hear her message now...or..." he started with a glance over to the other two men.

Both of whom blinked a few times as the red-haired man seemed to insinuate that they shouldn't listen to what the message is. Sora raised a brow briefly to this before nodding in response to Axel, to which she looked to the pair and smiled lightly. "Just give us a few minutes alone, I'll give you each a call when I ask you for the favor I have planned." she explained, making Lexaeus and Zexion give a slow nod of their heads in response.

"Very well...but remember, we are still technically enemies. So you best ask us your favors soon, or we will be fighting you once again before you can make your request." the larger man stated firmly to the girl, yet he sounded more like he was giving parental advice, rather than threatening her.

Sora smiled to him and nodded as he vanished in the same fashion that Larxene had, to which Zexion simply sighed with a shrug. "And if your favor is to ask about the spells in my book...I also suggest you do that soon since it will take too long for you to even understand one spell by the time you've reached the top." he muttered before he also disappeared.

As soon as he was gone, Axel immediately spoke up in a silent tone while looking to the teen with a serious expression. "Namine is going to be waiting for you on the next floor. But she's asked me to tell you that you must not listen to anything she says during that meeting." he stated firmly to the brown-haired girl.

Whom blinked many times in response to him before tilting her head down in deep thought. "Hmm...well, if that's what she says." she responded with a shrug, which made Axel give her a look of 'you're far too trusting'.

However, the teen simply smiled to him with a shrug as she noticed this expression right away. "She's a nice girl from what I recall in my memories, so if she's asking you to tell me this...then it's obviously to protect me." Sora continued as her smile widened slightly.

"Besides...if it was something that would be bad for me, Marluxia would have been the one to tell me." the teen reasoned as the red-haired man blinked a few times, him being a bit shocked she had thought it through so much already.

"But now that you've given me her message, do you think that you could deliver one to her from me?" she questioned, her smile turning a bit sheepish now as Axel crossed his arms.

"What do I look like? A delivery man?" he asked back in a near huff, to which the teen just chuckled softly, yet also sheepishly.

"Sorry...but there is something that I'd like for you to tell her." Sora said in a halfway pleading way that made her sound actually rather cute.

This made Axel just groan silently as he somehow felt like an older brother all of a sudden. "Fine...what is it?" he asked while uncrossing his arms.

The brown-haired girl gestured for him to lean down, to which after doing so, she whispered in his ear. Yet her words caused the man's eyes to widen briefly before he looked to her with blinking eyes. "Seriously?" he questioned while slowly raising a brow.

Sora merely nodded her head in response as she had a small grin on her features as she had a very confident glint in her eyes. "But make sure to mention that I'm still going to rescue her, no matter what it takes." she stated calmly, despite both of them knowing what her claim meant.

"Alright then...I'll deliver your message, but are you sure?" Axel asked with a slight tilt of his head to the side in curiosity.

"Positive." was all the teen answered with.

* * *

 **And there you have it, the next chapter will finally mark the official meeting between Sora and Namine. But what was the message Sora asked to have delivered? What will it mean for the future of the series? Well...probably not all that much, but I still love to create drama. XD Anyway, I hope all of you liked the chapter and let me know what you though of it in a review. So until next time everyone.**


	20. Castle Oblivion part XX

**As a fair warning, this entire chapter is basically dialogue...but it's very important dialogue. XD Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and look forward to the next chapter as well...it'll be a real doozy. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 20: Castle Oblivion part XX

Sora sat on the floor of the eleventh level silently, her having waited for eight minutes after Axel had left. Him telling her to give him ten minutes before entering the next door so that he could deliver Sora's message to Namine. This making her sigh heavily as she hadn't even bothered to meditate or such, which made the teen quite bored.

"Hmph...despite your patience for learning, you really have none to spare for waiting, do you?" Maleficent muttered with a tone of amusement while standing just to the side of Sora.

'Oh whatever...I like to keep busy with something when I'm just sitting around.' the teen thought quickly in a huff, her looking away for a brief moment.

"Like napping?" the woman more of stated than asked in response, to which Sora turned to her with a light pout, yet didn't bother denying it.

"Now that's just mean." the brown-haired girl muttered aloud before standing up and stretching her limbs.

"Almost time." Maleficent said while going up toward the door with a curious gaze.

'Yep, though...I would like to ask you something really quick.' Sora said within her mind, the witch turning toward her once more with a raised brow.

"And why didn't you ask me during the previous nine minutes of your wait?" she questioned as her brow raised a bit higher.

'Well...mainly because I wasn't sure of how to phrase it without sounding rude.' the teen responded as she walked toward the doors, all while a sheepish smirk curled her lips.

"Oh~? So you were keeping busy." Maleficent uttered in amusement while briefly looking to the girl.

"Very well...what is it you wish to know?" she questioned as her gaze turned back to the door.

'Why haven't you tried to take over my mind?' Sora asked, her sounding quite blunt within her own thoughts.

This caused the witch to turn toward the teen once more, her eyes blinking a few times before she began to laugh. "Well, aside from not having full control of you yet...I find it much more interesting and fascinating to watch all of this unfold." was the woman's response as she still seemed rather amused.

'So it's just a form of entertainment for you?' Sora questioned while glancing briefly toward Maleficent.

Whom had nodded her head and took on a small smirk upon her features; "Indeed. I'm far too interested to see how things will play out to interrupt it now." she furthered as her smirk slowly widened slightly.

"I see." Sora whispered as a smirk slowly curled the corners of her lips.

"Looks like I'll have to keep it that way." the teen continued before pushing the doors open and walked through the bright light.

Of which eventually revealed Destiny Islands yet again as the light slowly faded from her sight. Though this time, she entered upon the small island that Sora and her friends would watch the sun set each day. However, upon looking to the heavily bent tree on the far right, Sora saw Namine sitting to the right of where the brown-haired girl herself would sit. This made her blink a few times, Sora recalling many memories of all four of them watching many sunsets together.

"Hello again...Sora." Namine whispered out, her turning herself slightly so that she could look at said girl.

Though as Sora gazed at the blond, she could feel a huge wave of nostalgia rush through her. 'It's just like all of those other times.' the teen thought briefly before shaking her head of this and walked up toward the tree.

She then climbed up onto it and sat in her usual spot, to which both she and Namine looked to the setting sun in front of them. "Just like the old days, huh?" Sora spoke silently without even looking at the blond.

Whom nodded her head in agreement as she shifted her gaze to her fellow teen; "Thank you for coming here Sora, I've been alone for so long and I really wanted to see you again." Namine spoke silently, her tone sounding very sad.

However, it felt as though it weren't exactly her words that she was sad about. Something of which Sora seemed to catch onto quickly, yet she just gave a normal response. "Of course...I'd do anything to keep you safe. Even if it's to keep you safe from boredom." she claimed in her 'hero tone', which made both of them giggle in response.

"I really do appreciate it, I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't ever see you or our friends again." Namine said silently as she looked to Sora with a soft smile, yet her eyes still appeared sad.

"Well don't worry, we'll definitely take you away from this place." Sora said with a confident tone, her giving a quick wink to the girl.

Despite Namine smiling wider, no happiness entered her eyes as she almost seemed dead inside. "Thank you." was her simple and silent response.

Sora grinned lightly to her, yet soon tilted her head up as if in deep thought about something. "Though, I am curious..." she started, to which Namine blinked a few times to her.

"...how did you end up here?" the brown-haired teen finished as she turned her eyes back to the blond.

Said girl blinked once more before clearing her throat and looking to the side; "Oh...w-well..." she started as if either trying to think of something to say, or of how to phrase it.

"After I left the main town on the island, I was attacked by Heartless and dragged into the Realm of Darkness." she started quickly, as if she just said the first thing that came to mind.

"But I guess they couldn't take my heart and I ended up arriving here at some point." the blond continued as her eyes darted from side to side, this indicating that she wasn't sure if her story was believable or not.

"Though, after a while...I lost my way and I haven't been able to leave since." Namine said silently, her finally sounding a bit more confident in her words.

Sora noticing this and quickly figured that she would be likely telling more of the truth with her following words. "And then what?" the brown-haired girl asked quietly as she wished to hear at least a semi-truth to what happened.

"I was approached by Marluxia and the others. They told me that if someone was able to get through every level of the castle, all while facing their past memories, they would gain a power that would allow me to leave. But since they aren't able to go through the castle in such a way due to...what they are...they can't help me escape." the blond responded as she seemed to fix her gaze on the sand in front of her.

"That's when I called you here. After sensing that you had gone into the Realm of Darkness, I called out to your heart and you appeared in the basement floor. But I was worried that you too might lose your way...so I asked Marluxia and the others to help you grow stronger. That way you would be able to make it all the way through to find me." she continued, her still keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Well...anger can be quite the motivator. But now that I've found you, can't we just leave?" Sora questioned silently, yet her tone made it clear that she knew there was going to be something else.

"No...this castle won't let me leave until you've reached the top floor." Namine explained, the sadness of her voice returning in full force with these words, as if they were something she truly didn't want to say.

"I see." the brown-haired teen whispered as she tilted her head up in deep thought.

"So, what's Marluxia's gain in all this anyway?" she questioned suddenly as she eyed the blond out of the corner of her eye.

"He..." Namine began, yet fell silent as if unsure if she should say something she likely shouldn't.

"He is looking for your help to defeat the Heartless." she continued after a brief few moments of silence.

"Everything that he's done is to make sure that you're ready to face against even the most powerful of Heartless." the girl finished, her briefly glancing toward Sora.

However, her eyes never met the other teen's as if she didn't want to look at the brown-haired girl directly. This making it clear for Sora that she felt deep shame about the things that she just said. Yet the lightly tanned teen just grinned and winked to Namine once more. "Well no worries, I've made it this far already...I'm not gonna lose to anyone or anything." she claimed firmly as she gave her signature grin, which made the blond's eyes actually show a glint of happiness in them.

Meanwhile, Marluxia watched this interaction with a small smirk on his features, to which he nodded his head slowly. "Excellent. It looks like our trap has finally come to fruition." he stated silently before looking around to the other Organization members.

"Despite the memories being hastily and recklessly given to her..." he continued with a quick glare toward Axel; "...things have progressed perfectly nonetheless."

"So what shall we have our new pet do?" Larxene questioned with a small, yet devious grin on her features.

Marluxia glanced to her before looking to the large crystal ball in the center of the room, though he seemed to be in deep thought as he tapped his chin a few times. "I believe a quick test of her true power is in order first." he stated while forming a blue card in his hand.

It depicted Hollow Bastion, yet it had a strange dark aura that emanated from a single point in the middle. Upon seeing this, each of the others gazed in shock from this card as they all knew what it meant. This lead for Zexion to step forward and narrow his eyes on the pink-haired man.

"Are you insane? If you send her to 'that' memory, she could end up dead." he claimed firmly while pointing to the blue card in the man's hand.

"He does have a point." Axel concurred as he glanced to Marluxia; "If you end up killing the Keyblade wielder because of this...I'm pretty sure the Superior is not going to be happy."

"Hmph...if she fails this test...then perhaps she is not worthy of being our tool to begin with." Marluxia declared before he vanished in a portal of darkness.

This lead for each of the others to glance to one another for a moment, the expression on all of their features was one of concern. "I hope she makes it through this." Axel muttered silently while shaking his head while he and the other three looked to the crystal ball.

"Considering her current strength...it could go either way." Lexaeus whispered as he firmly crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmph...if she fails...she fails." Larxene uttered silently, yet she started to tap her finger against her hip a bit nervously.

At the same time, Marluxia arrived directly beside Sora and Namine, both of whom turned to him upon his appearance. "We're quite sorry for all that we've put you through. But I do hope that you understand it was to help you in the long run." the pink-haired man spoke in a strange tone that sounded like a mixture of apologetic and condescending.

"Of course." was all Sora answered with as she was worried she might try and attack him right there.

Yet she remained still as she knew that Namine was basically the hostage in this situation. 'The only way I'll get to fight on him on equal terms is if I get Namine out of here so she can't be used against me.' the teen thought to herself...multiple times, so that she wouldn't just run over and punch Marluxia in the face.

Though as Sora looked to the card in the man's hand, she raised a brow and tilted her head slightly to the side. "I'm guessing that's the card for the last floor of this castle?" she asked with a tone that briefly showed her annoyance to having to go through all this.

"Indeed...and it'll be your toughest challenge yet I'm afraid. But I have confidence in your power and skill that you'll be able to win. Then you'll finally have the power to free Namine from this place." the man answered after giving a nod of his head.

"Is that so?" Sora uttered while sliding down from the tree and looking to Marluxia with a small, yet challenging smirk.

"Well...bring it on." was her follow up response, to which the man smiled back and nodded once more.

"Very well then...follow me." Marluxia stated while an opening appeared to the side of them.

Despite the man immediately walking through this, Sora paused for a moment and glanced back to Namine. "I'll be back soon." she stated with a wink and wide grin.

Though the blond nodded, she quickly called out to Sora just before she was about to enter into the opening. "Sora!"

As said teen turned once more, the blond just smiled softly, yet hopefully to her. "Please be careful."

Upon these words, Sora just took on her signature grin and gave a thumbs up to Namine before rushing through the white opening. Which snapped shut a split second later, as if not letting the blond even consider following after them Though once Sora had gone through, she was instantly confronted with a very familiar sight.

It was an area that appeared to be a large hall with a dome-shaped roof, yet it had many holes from multiple, large plant over-growths. Upon seeing this, her eyes slowly widened as she swiftly turned to the side. Her instantly laying eyes on the same hooded figure she had met many months ago on the opposite side of the room. She briefly took a step back as he just seemed to stand there in front of her, without uttering a single word.

"Oh no...not 'him' again." Sora whispered, her actually feeling very nervous as she experienced her first sense of true helplessness when she originally fought against him.

* * *

 **Xemnas makes one more appearance before Kingdom Hearts II, I hope you all look forward to this rematch. ;) Let me know what all of you thought in a review, and until next time.**


	21. Castle Oblivion part XXI

**Man this was a long chapter. I didn't expect it to be so long, but I also didn't want to cut it off near the end like I did with the previous big fight. So I have the whole fight this time and boy was it a big one. I tried to be as detailed as possible with much of it, but I'm sure I failed in a few spots. If you have any suggestions of future fights let me know. Anyway, onto our regularly scheduled show.**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 21: Castle Oblivion part XXI

Sora took in a few deep breaths as she stared at the hooded man with heavily narrowed eyes. Said figure just stood silently on the opposite side of the hall with an almost statue-like appearance. The teen just slowly moved her body into a fighting pose and summoned the golden Keyblade into her right hand. Sora doing this at the same time the man generated red beams from both hands and readied to fight as well.

'I have to analyze his movements and power. Even if this is just a memory, he must have some sort of identifiable technique or such that I can counter.' Sora thought quickly as she just watched the man slowly start walking towards her.

As soon as he reached within ten feet of the girl, he immediately rushed forward at a blinding speed. However, Sora was able to see him the whole way and ducked under the man's first attack of a spinning right kick. Though, this had also left her open to the swing of the red beam in his right hand as well. Yet just as it was about to make contact, the teen instantly vanished, causing his attack to hit the floor and created a small explosion.

The hooded figure quickly began to look around for the teen, but she was suddenly behind him and swept both his legs. Despite the fact that he quickly stopped his fall with putting a hand on the floor, Sora was already in front of him and side kicked him in the face. This knocked the man backward as he tumbled across the floor for a moment before quickly flipping back to his feet.

All the while, the brown-haired girl narrowed her eyes once more on the man as she switched her Keyblade into a reverse-hand grip. But she didn't let the man rest for too long, as she was quickly surrounded in a coat of black lightning. This barely being seen however, as she had disappeared almost instantly after it covered her whole body. Immediately following this, she came within just a few feet of the man as her form almost seemed to just materialize from thin air.

Then as if in fright of her sudden appearance, the hooded figure clenched his hands and created a barrier between them. It having an electric field around it that showed Sora if she were to touch it, she would be electrocuted with a huge amount of lightning magic. But said teen just smirked lightly as she could tell her opponent created this guard purely on instinct.

'Which means that it's part of his natural technique of defense and isn't something that he plans to trick me with.' Sora thought before she quickly back-flipped multiple times.

Her doing so in order to get out of the way from the man's multiple swings with his red beams. Him having moved right through his own barrier the moment he saw that the brown-haired girl wasn't moving any closer. Despite the teen barely managing to get away from these swings, she did so using four consecutive back-flips. Though, since the figure continued to rush closer to her with his assault, the teen brought forth her coating of black lightning and vanished once more.

Immediately following this however, the man rushed off to the right and clashed against Sora's Keyblade as she reappeared. This making her eyes narrow briefly as she blocked three more slashing attacks as the man just kept pushing her back. 'He only needed to see my speed once to be able to follow my movements. I knew this guy was no joke, but that's seriously distressing.' she thought quickly while blocking many more slashing attacks.

But while the man pushed the teen further and further back, he kept tapping his right foot on the floor after every few swings. Sora noticing this after the third time when she heard the faint sound of his boot against the floor. Yet she quickly found out the purpose of his actions as the floor suddenly cracked heavily from under them. This allowing a series of red beams to shoot up from below, which seemed to actually follow the girl as she flipped away.

Though she wasn't able to flee for long, as the hooded figure quickly got in her way to block her escape routes. His actions made it clear to Sora that she would either have to block his attacks and be hit by the beams from below, or be hit by his attack and deflect the beams. However, with a bit of quick thinking, she managed to deflect the beams while dodging his attacks. But rather than creating a pattern, Sora would deflect the beams in such a way that it would almost hit the man.

Just when the brown-haired teen managed to get away from both the last beam and the man's slash, Sora's back suddenly hit a wall. This made her eyes widen as she quickly realized that this was the man's plan the whole time. Her watching him create a large number of ream beams that were positioned a quarter circle around the teen. There not being a single escape route as all of these beams rushed toward her at the same time.

The girl's eyes narrowed heavily from this as she flipped her Keyblade around once more and held it into the air. Her actions creating a Reflega spell around her that prevented the beams from reaching her, but it quickly started to crack from under the strain. "Man...he's still just as strong as I remember." she muttered silently while grinding her teeth together as she did all she could just to keep the barrier up.

However, it soon shattered apart and created a series of exploding white orbs of magic around her. This actually providing a few extra moments of safety as the beams were disintegrated by the exploding magic. Though, Sora was then forced to deflect as many of the beams as she could with her Keyblade. Of which she succeeded in doing as her arm and Keyblade were practically a blur from the extreme speed she was moving them.

The moment all the beams had disappeared, the teen let out a heavy breath as she was already starting to feel a bit winded. This providing the hooded figure an opening as he rushed to her side and swung both red beams toward her in a pincer motion. Yet just as they were about to hit, Sora side-flipped over him with an almost dance-like grace. Though what caused the man to pause in shock was the fact that his arms were laced through the guard of the teen's Keyblade. Her having stabbed it into the ground at such an angle that his beams and hands would naturally go through the guard during his attack.

It now being the teen's turn to attack with this opening, to which she sent a ball of dark energy into both of the man's legs before she had even touched her feet on the floor. Immediately after he fell to his knees, Sora then used her wind magic to propel a powerful elbow into his back. This knocking him forward while his arms were unable to get free of the teen's Keyblade, to which he was sent face first into the floor. His fall also pinned both his hands under his chest, thanks to the positioning of the teen's Keyblade.

But the girl still wasn't finished as she raised her arms up, to which her weapon appeared in her hands instantly. Sora then swung down with all of her strength at the man, her even letting out a short battle cry while doing so. However, she was stopped short as a red beam suddenly shot out from the man's hand as he managed to move it out from under his chest. This beam of red light hit and went clear through the teen's right leg, to which her eyes widened as despite the speed of the attack, the pain was instant.

"Ah!" Sora screamed out as this was the worst agony she has ever felt in her life.

She had immediately dropped her Keyblade after this and placed both hands to her wounded leg, yet she still remained standing. All the while, the hooded man stood back to his feet and just seemed to stare at her for a moment. Sora herself was just glaring at him heavily as she was noticeably fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes. Yet despite this act of toughness, her body began to tremble from the sheer amount of pain she was feeling.

This giving the hooded figure a clear sign of his victory, to which he just walked right up to her and raised the beam in his right hand. Him pausing for a moment as if briefly relishing in his win over the teen. Whom of which simply continued glaring up at the man's unseen eyes; "Don't think you've won yet." the teen muttered silently just as the man's attack came toward her at great speed.

However, the red beam never hit as it bounced right off a Reflega spell just inches away from its intended target. But even more shocking still, Sora suddenly punched him hard in the stomach. This blow having so much force that the hooded man was sent straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Yet Sora was almost instantly next to him upon his impact, to which she kicked him with the same leg that had been wounded. It not having an injury of any kind, as if it had been a mere illusion the whole time.

But the teen's opponent couldn't seem to think much on it as Sora appeared above him and sent him straight into the floor with a punch to his face. Though after the man's impact, the brown-haired girl landed a few feet away and let out a heavy breath. She then rubbed her previously wounded leg and slowly curled her lips into a small smile.

"Boy...am I glad you taught me about the regenerating element of the Curaga spell." she whispered out while looking over to Maleficent off to the side.

"I'm impressed that you not only used it so efficiently, but even used it to make your enemy drop his guard to get him close to you." the witch commented with a slow nod of her head.

Sora just smiled a bit wider to her in response before turning to face the hooded man as he was standing back to his feet. Him not appearing to have any sort of trouble in standing up, it feeling almost as if all of the teen's attacks thus far were having no effect on him. 'Man, this guy is tough. I know I barely even pushed him the last time, but I thought for sure that this would have hurt him even a little. But it looks like no amount of technique countering or trickery will be working here.' Sora thought quickly while readying to fight once more.

For which she was grateful for doing as the figure suddenly held out a hand and produced a series of strange grey beams. These appeared to be shaped like thorn plants as they etched quickly through the air and right at the girl. Sora herself narrowed her eyes quickly as she moved out of the way just in time to avoid these attacks. Yet more and more just kept rushed toward the girl, whom had very little time to react as they approached from nearly every direction. Though her eyes quickly widened as the man was suddenly right in front of her, to which he grabbed her by the throat and instantly threw her into the air.

As Sora twisted around in mid-air, she managed to block the immediate attack that the man swung toward her. But she was then hit hard by more thorn-like beams from multiple angles as they sliced through her coat and a few layers of skin. Though even if they didn't seem to inflict heavy damage on their own, the fact that there were so many made these attacks so much worse. Yet just when Sora began to get used to dodging or deflecting these beams, the hooded man appeared to knock her higher into the air.

This providing more opportunity to attack the teen as she was unable to keep up with the man's movements. Sora not being able to memorize her opponent's techniques and keep avoiding the beams at the same time. After many more direct hits to the brown-haired girl, the figure then moved at great speed behind the teen. He then spun kicked her hard to the side, only for her to be engulfed in a sphere of the thorn-like beams.

Sora let out a scream of pain as they cut her from every angle before she was finally released. Though she almost wished it hadn't as the man was waiting for her as he blasted a huge volley of red beams toward her. Even in her condition, the girl still managed to either deflect or block many of these, yet it only took five direct hits to bring her to her knees. After this, Sora ground her teeth tightly together while rolling away from the remaining ten beams.

Upon doing so, the brown-haired girl breathed heavily and glanced toward the man as he landed gracefully on the floor just a few yards away. 'Damn...he's way stronger than I could have ever prepared for. And his techniques are far too advanced for me to keep up with. I can't even figure out a way to counter a single one he just used.' she started in her mind while using another Curaga spell on herself.

Which had healed all of her wounds, yet her stamina was still dropping from her body's shock to all of the injuries. This allowed her to stand back to her feet slowly, but the man was already coming toward her once more. 'I have to do something fast or I'm done for.' she continued with narrowed eyes, to which she moved into a fighting pose once more.

'While I have far greater physical strength and possibly a bit more raw power, his endurance is beyond anything I'm even capable of right now. He can take so many hits that it's unreal, but I can tell that my attacks are having an effect on him since I can feel his bones contorting slightly when I actually land a hit. I just need to use that to my advantage and remove any chance of him escaping or countering.' Sora thought quickly, to which her eyes soon widened from what she came up with.

"I guess it's all or nothing." she whispered before taking in a deep breath and allowed a coating of both black and yellow lightning to surround her.

This allowing her to vanish with even greater speed than before, yet the man just turned his head from side to side. There not being any attack that came as the teen simply circled around her opponent at true lightning speed.

"You're a seriously powerful opponent." Sora started as she was beginning to leave a black and yellow trail behind her while continuing her circle.

Though the man seemed to be able to keep up with this, he didn't make a move to follow her as if planning his next move of attack. All the while, Sora continued to speak with enough volume so that she could be heard. "I really don't think I can beat you with my level of experience. Your techniques are too advanced for me, but it doesn't mean that you're going to win."

The figure continued to shift his head from side to side while watching the teen's every move. Sora still going around in her circle while not attempt any sort of attack; "If I can't beat your technique...then I'm just going to plow on through with sheer force!" she called out loudly, which made Maleficent's eyes narrow as to what the girl was planning.

After these claims, the man brought his hands out to either side, to which he formed a huge number of red beams. These forming a large half circle around him as they started firing in every direction outward. Yet Sora just zoomed by them with her speed as she was literally flying in her circle around the room. Upon noticing that these attacks weren't connecting, the man quickly turned to the side and vanished.

This lead for multiple clashes to occur against the man's red beams and Sora's Keyblade. Though the hooded figure slashed and kicked at the brown-haired teen a great many times, she moved too quickly for him to get an effective hit on her. Him only managing to barely scrape the girl with each of the attacks she hadn't blocked or parried. But after a few moments, Sora finally stopped as she had moved to the very center of the hall. The hooded man instantly rushed toward her as he sent multiple beams at her, these being a mixture of the fast moving grey ones and the explosive red ones.

After they came close enough, a Reflega spell appeared and deflected the attacks. Yet due to the red beams' strength, the barrier soon shattered to tiny pieces, just like before. However, the resulting explosions of the fragments were still enough to not only disperse the remaining beams, but also keep the hooded man at bay for a brief moment. But this single second was all Sora needed to finish gathering all the energy she needed. Her having started when she made up her mind of what it would take to finish her opponent off once and for all.

Once Sora had collected this power, she swiftly moved toward the man with the same distance as at the start of the fight. Though instead of creating his lightning shield, the figure summoned a burst of dark energy from above. This striking down at the speed of a lightning bolt as it hit Sora straight on, yet she still just punched the man in the stomach with all her strength. Her letting out both a scream of pain and a battle cry at the same time during this.

The force of her attack causing the floor to crack very heavily and even for the wall she was facing to crumble slightly. It had also send the man flying backward before landing his back right onto Sora's elbow, which almost made him feel like his spine might break in half. But he was almost immediately knocked upward as the girl then spun a strong kick into his back.

However, this didn't stop the man from instantly spinning around and shooting a great many beams and even a few large spheres of darkness at the teen. Whom just took every single one of them as she leapt into the air after him, to which she used all of her strength and speed once more to punch him back into the floor. Which cracked even more as it seemed to be on the verge of collapsing upon his impact.

Sora breathed heavily from both exhaustion and pain as she was already bleeding from various areas from the many new wounds she had. "You foolish child! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Maleficent yelled out from the side as she was obviously disappointed in the teen's sudden change in fighting style.

Without even responding, Sora just smirked lightly and held her hands out to either side. This created a large aura of darkness around her before it funneled to her hands, of which she then brought together in front of her. The brown-haired girl's wrists touching fully, while her fingers were slightly curled. This allowing a sphere of dark energy to slowly appear and grow within her hands.

"Final Eclipse." Sora whispered before an overwhelming burst of darkness flew from her hands.

This completely consumed the entire floor as it shattered to dust while the man had been attempting to pick himself back up. Him instantly being pushed through every floor of the castle before finally hitting the ground, yet the power of the blast was too much for his body to take. It feeling like he was being both crushed by the gravity of a black hole, as well as burned by the lava from a volcano. The sheer pain causing him to scream out, despite the blast itself only lasting for ten seconds.

Upon stopping, Sora just dropped from the air as there was no floor to catch herself on. Yet she quickly used a wind spell to push herself onto one of the lower level ledges that was still intact. The brown-haired teen breathed heavily as her dark powers were practically drained at this point, to which she weakly looked over the edge to see if the man was even still there. As she gazed down, she could indeed see the hooded man at the very bottom of the large hole she created.

But as he lifted an arm out to push himself up, the teen's eyes widened in shock. "Is there really no way that I can beat this guy?" she whispered silently, the fear she felt before the fight started beginning to creep back to the surface.

However, the man's movements suddenly stopped as his body started to disintegrate. This shocked the girl briefly until he was fully gone, to which she slowly started to grin lightly. "I...I actually did it." she muttered in a proud tone.

All the while, Maleficent just stared with narrowed eyes and crossed her arms. "Tch! Such reckless behavior. She might be a prodigy...but she's still just a child." she whispered to herself.

* * *

 **And there you have it...a new and obviously Dragon Ball inspired technique, a reveal into Sora's faults as an actual fighter...and hopefully an enjoyable chapter for you all to read. Let me know what all of you thought in a review, I'd really appreciate it for this chapter since I need feedback for fights in order to improve them. They're going to be a big 'key' of many things to come, so I would greatly appreciate any and all critiques. Anyway, until next time everyone.**


	22. Castle Oblivion part XXII

**Sorry for not posting this chapter sooner, the holidays have been rather hectic this year. But I hope all of you had a Happy Holiday and enjoy this chapter to celebrate the new year. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 22: Castle Oblivion part XXII

Sora let out a silent sigh as she was kneeling directly in front of the image of Maleficent within her mind. Yet the witch seemed to be highly disappointed from her expression alone, to which she just hit her staff on the ground roughly. "It seems that I've been too lax with you." she started in a firm tone.

"I suppose I overlooked your age since you are a prodigy in terms of magic, the power of darkness...and even physical strength. But since you're so inexperienced and young...you're powers are almost meaningless against a foe whose own strength pushes you into a corner. You simply lash out like a child and barely give any coherent thought about the consequences." the woman continued as she looked to the two wounds that could be easily seen on the teen's face.

These being cuts that wouldn't heal with the regenerative aspect of her Curaga spells, regardless of how many times she had cast it. While they were both on the left side of her face, the longer one ran from the middle of her forehead, to just a few centimeters shy of her jaw. Though it also went over the corner of her eye, it didn't seem to actually effect her eye itself. The second was much shorter in length, which started below her tear-duct and ended just to the side of her mouth. This making it somewhat painful to smile, or make any sort of expression at the moment. Despite neither of these wounds being very deep and would likely heal naturally, both of the girls knew that these cuts would become permanent scars.

"Therefore, I think it's fair to say that you require a great amount of discipline and education. Even if you cannot match your foe in terms of experience right away, you can and will outsmart them. I shall teach you methods of foresight so that you can read not only an opponent's moments, but their techniques as well. I'll also be showing you a greater level of power that comes with such knowledge." Maleficent claimed, her sounding like a true teacher at this point.

The woman's words made Sora look to her with blinking eyes before taking on a small grin in response. 'Looks like you're actually taking your teaching role rather seriously now, huh?' she commented in her mind while continuing to grin.

Maleficent simply rolled her eyes and hit her staff on the floor once more; "Enough of your prattling! If you have time to make snarky remarks, then you have time to get a move on. You've recovered enough of your power now hurry along and finish this mission of yours within the castle." the dark fairy demanded as her eyes narrowed on the teen slightly.

Said girl simply giggled lightly while standing up to her feet; "As you wish." she whispered in a halfway teasing, halfway sarcastic tone.

Though this had received a 'hmph!' from Maleficent, Sora just headed into the castle of Hollow Bastion. Her having remained on the ledge of one of the lower floors ever since defeating her hooded opponent. But while she walked on, a white opening seemed to appear in front of her. The teen then moved through this with slightly narrowed eyes before arriving on the other side of this portal. Of which took her to the thirteenth level, where she saw Axel facing Marluxia in a battle-ready stance. All the while, Larxene, Zexion and Lexaeus seemed to be laying unconscious off to the sides. The only movement that could be seen from any of them was their shallow breathing.

This made the teen blink many times while looking around, to which she cleared her throat and tilted her head to the side. "I feel like I've missed something here." she muttered with a light sweat drop.

Just before Sora's fight against the hooded man, Axel, Larxene, Zexion and Lexaeus were gathered around the crystal ball that showed Marluxia bringing the teen to her new opponent. Which made each of the four narrow their eyes heavily before looking to each other.

"I know that it's not something you want revealed yet, if at all..." Axel started silently, him letting out a silent breath before continuing.

"...but you and Marluxia were planning to use Sora to overthrow the Organization, right?" he suddenly asked while looking to Larxene with a raised brow.

The blond had wide eyes from his accusation, yet they quickly narrowed in response as her arms slowly crossed under her chest. "Perhaps we were...what's your point?" she questioned back in an almost sneering tone.

"My point is...the moment word this 'test' of Marluxia's gets out, the Superior is going to realize something is going on. Which means that anyone with affiliations with Marluxia is going to be labeled as a traitor and have a target forever on their back." the red-haired man stated while he just stared at the crystal ball.

Which not only showed Sora's fight, but also Marluxia watching in the shadows of Hollow Bastion. The pink-haired man not wanting to risk missing anything from this fight as if trying to memorize everything. Though, Larxene's narrowed gaze remained fixed on Axel as she just huffed silently and turned back to the fight. "I'm assuming the Superior guessed his motives and sent you here to keep an eye on us?" she questioned, her not moving her eyes away from the ball either.

"Perhaps he did...perhaps he didn't. The main piece of advice I have for you is to make sure that when things start unraveling at the seams, you're on the right side." Axel warned while giving the blond a quick, yet narrowed glance.

Though Larxene was silent for a moment, she returned the man's brief stare before just rolling her eyes. "Hmph! Your concern is touching, but I've only ever been on my own side!" she stated firmly as a small smirk curled her lips.

The red-haired man gave another look toward her as he chuckled silently with a shrug of his shoulders. "If you insist." was all he muttered, to which the room went almost fully silent.

The only sound coming from the crystal ball, as it produced a silent echoing of what was happening in Sora's fight. Yet during Axel's and Larxene's exchange, the other two members of the organization were looking to one another at brief intervals. Though Lexaeus seemed more likely to speak up or possibly even take action, Zexion shook his head slightly. This telling the larger man to let things play out so that they could find out more information about everything going on.

Axel smirked lightly to this as he figured that neither one would do anything when Zexion's curiosity got in the way. But they all soon turned toward Vexen as he appeared in a black portal to the side, to which he walked up to the crystal ball. Him seeing how the hooded figure was starting to gain the upper hand on Sora, to which he merely smirked lightly.

"Hmph...as expected. She's no where near 'his' level yet." the newly arrived man claimed in a knowing tone while crossing his arms.

"You don't seem surprised to see Marluxia pitting the Keyblade bearer against 'him'." Axel muttered silently in more of a statement than anything else.

"Obviously...unlike you simple minded fools, I happen to be able to predict people's motives and plans before they are even able to put them fully into motion." Vexen claimed in a proud voice that made each of the others unconsciously roll their eyes.

"Sure you are. Then I assume that you know what's coming after this then?" Larxene asking in a heavily sarcastic manner.

"Of course I do!" the platinum-blond-haired man declared quickly, though he cleared his throat soon afterward.

"But telling you would be a fruitless endeavor, so I will leave it to each of you to find out on your own accord." he continued almost immediately, to which each of the others once again rolled their eyes briefly in response.

"Well...whatever the case, lets just find out how this fight goes." Axel uttered out silently, yet everyone's attention was almost immediately glued to the crystal ball.

It now showing Sora sacrificing her safety in order to hit the hooded man upon the floor of the hall. Yet their eyes quickly widened when the teen used her overwhelming technique known as; 'Final Eclipse'. This causing the entire ball to go black for a few moments, the flood of darkness the blast created had consumed almost everything around the brown-haired girl. But once it had cleared, the five organization members were stuck in shock when they saw the utter devastation the blast created.

"I-Impossible..." Vexen whispered out as he could hardly manage anything else out.

"S-She..." Larxene began, her able to break free of most of her shock; "...she actually did it."

"She beat 'him'." Lexaeus uttered while his widened eyes slowly began to narrow.

"Wait..." Zexion started quickly as he pointed to the crystal ball, which showed the hooded man at the bottom of the newly created chasm starting to move.

Yet just as they started to feel slightly at ease, the figure quickly began to disappear and their shock returned. "D-Does this actually mean that she's stronger?" the steel-blue-haired man questioned with a glance around to the others.

"Of course not." Marluxia stated as he suddenly appeared to the side of the group, to which he walked up to the crystal ball.

The pink-haired man having a satisfied expression on his features while doing so, yet he never broke his gaze away from the image of Sora on the ball. "While I did modify the memory to have 'his' true techniques, it wasn't possible to produce the same level of power. She fought 'him' originally around 60% of his full power back in Hollow Bastion, which means she only defeated a portion of his real strength." he continued, him shrugging his shoulders for a moment afterward.

"A large portion...but only a portion nonetheless. Which means that she'll have to be far stronger if our plans are ever to succeed." he stated firmly while touch the orb briefly, to which the images vanished and it became clear.

"Oh~?" Axel hummed out while crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes on the man; "And what plans might those be?"

Marluxia turned to the red-haired man and just smirked lightly in response, to which Vexen quickly disappeared in a portal of darkness. Him seeming to understand exactly where things were heading at this point. This sparking both Axel and Marluxia to summon their weapons, the former having his chakrams and the latter having a large pink, green and gold scythe. Yet this then caused the three remaining organization members to bring forth their own weapons. Lexaeus and Zexion seeming to be on Axel's side due to their hard gazes toward Marluxia, yet Larxene didn't seem to have a side as she just looked around to everyone.

Despite having a brief stare down, Marluxia quickly attacked Axel with a swing of his scythe. Said man deflected this blow and even slashed at his opponent's stomach with his free chakram. But Marluxia simply jumped backward and looked to Lexaeus rushing toward him with his large axe coming down toward his head. All the while, Zexion moved to Axel's side and brought a hand out to cast a spell.

Though the pink-haired man just smirked lightly in response and gripped his scythe a bit tighter. This making Axel's eyes widen as he moved his chakrams out in front of him in a defensive position. "Get back!" he called out just before Marluxia slashed at the air with great force.

This knocking Lexaeus, Zexion and even Larxene into the wall behind them, to which they just dropped to the floor, seemingly unconscious. Despite Axel also getting hit by this, his weapons seemed to block most of the force and only slid him backward a few feet. The scythe-wielding man simply smirked to this lightly and rested his weapon upon his shoulder. "Smart move." he muttered out silently in a rather arrogant tone.

"Leaving them alive, are you? That's almost kind." the red-haired man asked silently as his eyes narrowed slightly on his foe.

"Hmph...hardly. I plan on using Namine's abilities to overwrite their memories so that they'll only serve me." Marluxia claimed as he took on another smirk.

"Fat chance...her abilities only work on those Sora's heart is connected to." Axel retorted as he gripped his weapons a bit tighter.

"Exactly." was all the pink-haired man stated in a knowing tone as his smirk widened slightly.

This made Axel's eyes widen in response, yet he quickly looked back as the doors opened to reveal Sora walking inside. "I feel like I've missed something here." she muttered with a light sweat drop.

* * *

 **And there you have it, these events ran parallel with the previous chapter, but I hope all of you still enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one. Which will be on time, hopefully...maybe...don't quote me on that. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone and I hope to see you all next time.**


	23. Castle Oblivion part XXIII

**Sorry that this one was a day late. I was going through a bunch of editing yesterday and realized that things weren't progressing properly so I ended up rewriting much of the chapter. I hope this is to your liking, despite the lack of actual fighting like it was supposed to in the original. But I'll save the big fight for the next chapter. ;) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.  
**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 23: Castle Oblivion part XXIII

Immediately following Sora's comment, both Axel and Marluxia just stared at her silently for a brief moment. Yet the latter soon spoke up in a calm tone while slowly taking on a smirk; "So glad that you could come, Sora." he started, to which he relaxed his stance slightly.

"These traitors were planning to kidnap Namine so that neither she, nor you, could leave this castle." the pink-haired man continued as his smirk widened briefly.

"So I incapacitated those three from the start to avoid injuring anyone. But it seems that Axel doesn't seem to want to make this easy on us." he finished while readying his scythe once more.

"Oh~?" Sora hummed out silently as she glanced between the two for a brief few seconds.

"Well then...I suppose I'll have to do something about this, now won't I?" she questioned, a small smirk slowly curling her lips.

The brown-haired teen then slid her feet apart, summoned her Keyblade in a reverse grip and brought her free hand out slightly in front of her. Axel quickly blinked a few times in shock as he had only ever seen one other person take on such a pose. Yet Sora just smirked a bit wider as, starting from the tips of her left hand's fingers, a coating of lightning magic spread across her whole body. She then crouched slightly before vanishing from sight, to which her Keyblade almost instantly made contact with Marluxia's weapon.

The owner of said scythe having noticed the girl's direction of attack and managed to block the blow. Yet the large amount of electricity that discharged from Sora's Keyblade made it difficult for him to continue blocking it for long. "Sorry to burst your bubble..." the teen started as her smirk just widened slightly.

"...but your plans went out the window long ago." she stated as her free hand pointed behind her and out of her opponent's line of sight.

The girl shooting a continuous beam of what appeared to be green lightning into the floor. Of which quickly moved toward the feet of Marluxia as he was still pushing against Sora's Keyblade. Yet his eyes immediately drifted to the sides, him noticing the faint green light that the lightning created within the floor. As the electrical magic came closer to his feet, the pink-haired man quickly jumped to the side just as a blast of green lightning erupted right where he once stood.

But in the same moment Marluxia moved, Axel had thrown both his weapons into the pink-haired man's path. This forcing him to deflect the chakrams with his scythe, but it had also left his back wide open for attack as Sora moved right behind him. The teen instantly delivered a hard kick to Marluxia's back and sent him flying forward just shy of the wall several yards away.

Though, before Sora or Axel could move in for another attack, the scythe-wielding man spun around and swung his weapon toward them. Yet it wasn't his action that caused both of them to halt in their tracks, it was the large arc of pink and black energy that flew at the two. Axel blocking it with his chakrams once they returned to him, while Sora created a Reflega spell around her. All the while, Marluxia used this opportunity to flee through the next set of doors in the room.

This made Sora huff silently before looking toward Axel with a raised brow; "I thought this was the last floor." she commented firmly as the red-haired man shrugged his shoulders.

"What? Just because there is another door...doesn't mean it's a new floor." he started while allowing his weapons to disappear in a small burst of fire.

"That just leads down a long hallway...which then leads to another door...which leads into the last room of Castle Oblivion." Axel finished, him sweat dropping briefly as if finally realizing the teen's attitude toward seeing more doors.

Sora simply sighed heavily in response, yet she just turned around and used a Curaga spell on each of the three unconscious Organization members. "So I'm guessing he didn't want you guys getting in his way?" she asked slightly without even turning to face Axel.

"Basically." the man started with a heavy sigh, to which he crossed his arms.

"He knocked these two our because he knew that they'd try and stop him." he continued while giving a quick gesture toward Lexaeus and Zexion.

"And he knocked her out because she wavered in helping him fight against the rest of us." Axel finished as he shifted his gaze to Larxene.

The brown-haired teen blinked a few times to this, to which she turned toward the blond and slowly smiled. "Well whaddya know, she's actually pretty softhearted deep down after all." she whispered silently to herself as she dismissed her Keyblade.

Yet due to their proximity, Axel had heard her and seemed ready to speak up. However, he just seemed to pause in deep thought about something as he seemed almost confused. But this wouldn't last long as the doors to the previous level soon started to open, which drew both his and Sora's attention. Though the latter of the two slowly gained a sheepish smile as her friends came rushing inside the room.

"Um...hey you guys." she said in a somewhat nervous manner since she kind of just ran off on her own.

Upon hearing her voice, seven pairs of eyes immediately turned toward her and focused slightly. These eyes belonging to Riku, Riku's replica, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and even Namine. Though the second to last of them quickly rushed toward Sora and tackled her to the floor, all while hitting her friend with weak smacks to her guarding forearms.

"You idiot! I was so worried about you!" she shouted out before she finally stopped her swinging and just hugged Sora tightly.

"I know...I'm sorry." the brown-haired girl said silently, to which she gave her friend a returning hug.

"Don't ever run off like that again." Kairi whispered as she gave her friend a tight squeeze before finally releasing her.

"Well...I'll definitely try not to make it a habit." Sora commented in a sheepish tone, her expression matching this as well.

After their exchange, the two slowly stood back to their feet and the others were able to greet the brown-haired teen. However, one of them didn't move from their spot near the now closed doors, the replica of Riku. But upon noticing this, Sora came walking over to him with crossed arms and a silent huff. "And what do you think you're doing over here?" she questioned with a slightly raised brow.

This silver-haired boy blinked a few times to her before shaking his head quickly and shifted his gaze away. "I'm not even a real person, don't treat me like I'm your friend." he muttered out in both an angry and sad tone.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're a real person, you might have been created...but it doesn't make you any less of a person than any of us." Sora responded in a firm tone while gesturing to herself and her friends.

"How can you say that?! I'm just a fake! A phony! A nobody!" the silver-haired teen claimed firmly as his anger and sadness seemed to just increase.

"You're my friend." is all the brown-haired girl said, which made the boy in front her goes silent almost instantly.

"You might have his face, his memories and his style...but you also have memories that Riku doesn't have. Which is something that shows you are unique and your own person." Sora stated while patting the boy on the shoulder.

"So make your own name, your own identity...cause you are you, and no one else." she finished with a wider smile and nod of her head to further her words.

The replica blinked many times to this as he slowly tilted his head down in thought; "It's easy for you to say that...you're not the one who is a copy." he growled out, to which he looked to the teen as if to further his outburst.

However, just as he was about to continue on, Sora simply hugged him gently. This shocking the boy greatly as he just stood there, not even moving an inch. "Maybe it is easier for me to say, but I've known right from the start that you weren't Riku...which is why I never called you by his name." she said silently as she continued to hug him for a few moments.

"I've seen you as someone different from the beginning. Plus, I could tell from he way you looked and talked to me...you didn't really want to fight me." Sora commented while slowly releasing the boy as he blinked at her a couple times.

"That's why I treated you as a friend...and that's why you are my friend." the brown-haired girl stated firmly, to which she pressed a fist to his chest.

This making the silver-haired boy's eyes widen as this was the gesture Riku and Sora made with one another the day they became friends...before Riku found out Sora was a girl. Thinking about this within his memories, the replica slowly gave a small smile and nod of his head. "A name, huh?" he started silently while briefly tilting his head up in thought.

"You're not afraid I'll come up with a cooler name than yours, are you?" he questioned in a somewhat teasing tone and small smirk.

Sora just huffed to him before crossing her arms; "Fat chance! You'll probably just come up with something lame." she stated quickly while quickly looking away.

"Oh yeah? Like naming your toy boat; 'floaty thingy'?"the replica questioned as his previous tone and expression seemed to increase with these words.

The brown-haired girl flushed in response before turning herself fully away to keep her blush hidden. "W-W-Whatever! I was only four years old at the time!" she claimed in a stutter, her letting out an embarrassed groan.

Though, as the teen did this, Namine came walking up to Sora and looked to her somewhat meekly. "I'm so glad that you're alright." she whispered with a small smile.

The brown-haired girl blinked at the blond a few times before she gave her signature grin and a thumbs up; "I told ya I would be." she commented with an even wider grin.

Namine's smile increased from this as well while giving a slow nod, to which she then explained how she came to be with the others. Sora asking about this as she wasn't expecting the girl to show up until she came back for her.

"Well...Marluxia just left me in that floor's memory and they suddenly showed up a little while after you had left." she started silently, to which she then gestured toward Riku's replica upon continuing.

"He had told them all about me, so they knew who I was almost right away. But I still had some explaining to do, so we were a bit delayed in catching up to you." she added with a sheepish expression, yet soon glanced to Kairi with a soft smile.

"But while I was afraid to follow them at first, she told me that if we all stayed together, there was nothing to fear. So I went with them because I wanted to make sure you were alright." Namine finished while looking directly toward Sora, her smile remaining upon her features.

All the while the brown-haired girl simply smiled back to her and nodded her head in understanding. "I appreciate that, thank you." she said in a very kind tone.

"Oh brother." Donald muttered silently from the side as he let out a light sigh.

"Well...Sora does always get like that around girls." Goofy added, to which Sora flushed deeply yet again with a quick huff.

"Do not!" she claimed in her embarrassment, making many in the room laugh or giggle in response.

All the while, Axel just stood there watching this with a small smile on his features. Yet he didn't seem to realize this until chuckling softly, to which he blinked a few times in a bit of shock. "I'm...I'm actually feeling...happy?" he whispered to himself as he tilted his head up slowly.

Though, this moment was soon broken as a swell of darkness seemed to flood everyone's senses. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention..." Axel started as he gained everyone's attention.

"...that last room has a deep connection to the Realm of Darkness. So Marluxia likely using it to take in as much power as possible in order to take us all out at once." he finished with a serious tone as everyone turned their gaze to the next door.

"Then, we'll all just fight against him as one. He won't stand a chance if we're all there to fight." Riku claimed firmly as he took a step forward.

"If we all work together, we'll beat him for sure!" Mickey added as he gave a nod in agreement to the silver-haired boy's words.

"No..." Sora started, to which each of the people around the girl fixed their gaze upon her; "...I'm going to face him on my own."

Immediately after her words, almost everyone opened their mouth's to speak, yet she just raised a hand to stop them. "I know that it's dangerous, and this isn't the first time I've asked to fight someone by myself...but this is something I really have to do." she claimed with a serious glance to each of her friends.

"I fought against someone a little while ago who far exceeded anything I was capable of. And if I ever face them again, I'd surely lose." the teen continued silently as her head tilted down slowly.

"I'm sorry to ask this of all of you, but I need to see if I can beat Marluxia on my own. Cause if I can't...then my entire time training here would have been wasted." she finished in a tone that showed her frustration at her previous fight.

After looking at her and one another, each of the girl's friends eventually gave a slow nod in response to her. "Fine...but we're definitely going to be right there to make sure you don't do anything reckless." Riku stated in a firm tone, to which Sora just grinned with a small smile.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." the brown-haired teen responded with a nod of her head.

* * *

 **And there you have it, the next chapter will be the entire fight. Which will probably be a very long chapter since I plan to have a lot to it. Reveals, developments and more. So just a fair warning, it will not be coming this coming weekend. Unless I'm really confident in everything right away, I'm going to be writing a lot and editing even more since this will be the final showdown of Castle Oblivion...and I want it to be amazing. ;) So just be patient with me and I'll try my very best to make it worth the wait. ^^ Until then everyone, and please don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you thought of this or any chapter.**


	24. Castle Oblivion part XXIV

**Well that took a while. I kinda thought it was going to be longer, but I figured that I'd leave what happens after this for the last chapter. Which yes, is next chapter. So I hope all of you have enjoyed this part of the story, as its end is basically here. I hope all of you have enjoyed and will continue reading not only the next chapter, but also the next step of the story: 'Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days'. Granted, it won't be very long since it'll mainly only cover what is really different, so expect only ten to fifteen chapters at the most. ;) And now, onto the story.**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 24: Castle Oblivion part XXIV

A long, pure white hallway was all that was seen as the group rushed through the doors. Though the end was soon in sight, it felt as if there was an eternity of distance between them. Sora having allowed her mind to dwell on the upcoming fight over and over. Of which made everything around her feel as if it was slowing down to a mere crawl. Would she win? Could she win? How would she win? Will she be able to protect everyone else?

However, it wouldn't take very long for them to arrive in a widened area of the hall, which lead to the last set of doors on this level. Yet it was the pink-haired man standing in front of them that drew the group's attention as Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Riku replica and Namine all glared at him.

"Decide to give up, did you?" Sora questioned as she and the others paused in their steps and readied for a fight.

"Not at all." Marluxia began with a small smirk curling his lips, all while resting his scythe over his right shoulder.

"I merely wished to confirm if the agreement I thought you might have with your friends was the one I deduced." he continued with a glance from Sora, to each of the others.

"What? That I can beat you without using my full power? Of course I did." Sora claimed in a confident tone, yet her guard never dropped even for a second.

"Hmph...so you say, but we'll see how you fair against my full power." Marluxia muttered, to which he snapped his fingers and allowed the doors behind him to open in the blink of an eye.

Immediately following this, each of those facing the man were able to see the wide open hall beyond the doors. Yet this room seemed to have more of a dark grey color, rather than the bright white that had been seem all throughout the rest of the castle. Sora narrowed her eyes to this before smirking, and rushing forward at great speed. In the same moment, Marluxia jumped backward so that they arrived in the large hall with the same distance between them the whole way.

However, just as the others started following after the pair, the doors swung shut at great speed. This sealing six of the seven others on the opposite side of the door; "Sora!" many of them called out as a shield quickly generated over the door to stop them from even touching it.

"Tch! I should have figured that he'd pull something like this. I should have moved faster." Riku growled out silently as he looked over the barrier with narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry...she'll be alright. We just have to trust in her." Mickey said quickly with a nod of his head, him giving everyone more confidence for the situation.

"Wait a second..." Goofy spoke up while looking around before to his fingers, of which he seemed to count on briefly.

"...we're short one other person." he finished as everyone turned to one another, then back to the door upon realizing who else made it through.

Meanwhile, Sora just readied herself to fight while shifting her left foot forward and turned her body to the side slightly. Yet the pink-haired man simply looked from her to the figure behind the teen, to which he slowly gained a wider smirk. "Well well...looks like you managed to gain one assistant." he muttered as Sora slowly glanced over her shoulder.

This being where the Riku replica had managed to get through the doors before they closed, to which both teens shared a brief gaze. The brown-haired girl then turned back to Marluxia with a shrug and small grin; "Nah...he's just here to watch me plant your face into the floor and see what kind of flower you look like." she claimed firmly as both she and the replica chuckled lightly.

"I'm betting on a Peony." the silver-haired boy commented with a small smirk curling his lips.

"Nah...you gotta account for the legs. It'll definitely be a Pink Lilium." Sora added as the pair chuckled once more as Marluxia seemed to become somewhat irritated.

"Say what you will, but until you've beaten me..." the pink-haired man began, to which he vanished from sight and almost instantly reappeared to the side of Sora.

"...you're life is on the line." he finished in a whisper while swinging his scythe at the girl with blinding speed.

However, his attack missed it's target as the teen ducked under the weapon's blade and brought her free hand out. This shooting an enormous blast of dark energy from her palm, of which Marluxia had avoided by flipping high and to the side of it. Yet, with a brief flash of lightning magic, Sora was already near of the pink-haired man's landing point with her Keyblade at the ready. The girl's normally blue eyes having already become yellow at this point as she still had a faint sign of a smirk on her features.

Marluxia's own eyes narrowed to this as he just brought the staff part of his scythe in the way and blocked the teen's swinging strike. But due to the force of this attack, the man was sent far off on the opposite side of the hall. The man's expression turned to one of strain as he focused on steadying himself, but also gathered dark energy in one of his hands. Upon finally stopping, the pink-haired man looked around quickly to find the teen. Though, surprisingly, Sora had remained exactly where she stood after her initial attack. "Clever." he whispered silently, him slowly lowered his weapon.

He then allowed the darkness he gathered to vanish, as it was going to be his counterattack if the teen got too cocky. But after doing this, the scythe-wielding man twirled said weapon in his hand briefly before entering a proper fighting stance. All the while, Sora simply stood there with a small smirk on her features as she slowly took a few steps forward. "Thundaga Prison." she muttered out silently with a single tap on the floor with her Keyblade.

Her action and words created a sudden burst of electrical magic that shot up from from the floor, which surrounded the pink-haired man. This making said person look around to this spell with narrowed eyes for a brief moment. Yet, as if figuring out the last piece to a puzzle, he smirked and slashed his blade through the air. The lightning almost instantly disbursing as he had quickly realized that the spell was completely false and was far weaker than what had been suggested in the name. Despite figuring this out however, the purpose of the spell was still unclear as Sora simply began generating a series of large fire balls over her head.

"Firaga Burst!" she called out as the spheres of flames quickly shot out a great many smaller balls toward her opponent.

Each of these rushing at Marluxia with swift speed and great accuracy, which caused him to either dodge away or slash them into mere hot air. But while the pink-haired man opted for the latter choice, he remained fully aware of where the teen was at all times. Sora currently rushing to the side, her Keyblade slowly spinning along the edge of her palm. The weapon itself gaining a dark purple aura around it, while the girl continued on her way to get behind her opponent.

Upon doing so, she quickly flipped high into the air just as Marluxia slashed his scythe in her direction. This having created an arc of pink and black energy, which flew toward the spot that the brown-haired girl had just been. Though, while she remained in the air for a few brief moments, it was all Sora needed to grip her Keyblade once more and point it at the man. Immediately following this, a deep purple sphere shot toward him with great speed.

Despite this swiftness, Marluxia was able to tell just from its color that it was a derivative of a Gravity spell. The knowledge of this lead for him to just side flip away with ease as he knew that it would only take effect if it came into contact with him. However, while the magic passed him, he was able to sense its properties more closely. Of which made his eyes widen briefly as he quickly tried to jump further away from the spell. But it was too late as the sphere expanded with a snap of Sora's fingers and revealed a silver-colored Magnet spell within the Gravity orb.

"Black Hole." Sora whispered with a small smirk on her features, the magic instantly sucking Marluxia into the air and trapping him there.

All the while, the purple energy also expanded and kept the pink-haired man's limbs from moving. This truly feeling like he was stuck in a miniature black hole as he couldn't move in the slightest, all while being crushed by the intense gravity. "Damn it..." he growled out silently with slightly narrowed eyes.

This simply made Sora smirk lightly as she rushed toward the trapped man and threw her Keyblade toward him. Marluxia himself ground his teeth together while watching the teen's weapon come flying at his face. Yet as his eyes closed, a huge amount of dark power surged from his body and broke the magic spells containing him. His actions allowing him to then deflect the girl's Keyblade with his own weapon, long before it even came within range.

"I think I've indulged in your pitiful attacks long enough." he whispered silently as his eyes snapped open, them now being yellow in color.

But they began scanning the area, they quickly returned to normal as Marluxia immediately noticed that Sora had vanished. However, his eyes widened slightly and his body swiftly turned around as her voice was heard behind him.

"Ditto." was all that was heard before the teen slammed her fist into the man's stomach with all of her strength.

Her one punch caused Marluxia to go flying back and into the curved wall that surrounded the whole room. Yet the force of it alone was enough to heavily crack the floor all around the teen as the shock wave all but echoed throughout the room. Though, the wall soon looked like it would come crumbling down the moment the pink-haired man made contact. The cracks looking as they were thick spiderwebs on the wall, yet none of it ever crumbled away.

Upon slowly sliding down from the wall, Marluxia looked to Sora with heavily narrowed and hatred-filled eyes. Said teen was just smirking lightly as she caught her Keyblade with ease, it having spun back to her after missing it's target. "That really all you got? I thought you absorbed power from the Realm of Darkness. You're no where near as strong as Ansem." Sora commented with a raised brow and slight tilt of her head in question.

"Tch!" the man all but spat out while standing up to his feet; "Don't get cocky." he muttered out as he slammed the bottom of his scythe onto the floor.

This suddenly creating three very large swirls of darkness, each one allowing what looked to be a series of spinning thorns to rise up. Each of these attacking with great speed as it was obvious that anything caught within them would likely been torn to shreds in an instant. Though, due to them forming one after another, Sora had plenty of time to understand what was happening. Which had been just in time, as one of the three swirls appeared under her feet. The brown-haired girl had flipped high into the air to avoid this, yet almost instantly came face-to-face with Marluxia.

Him slashing at her a great many times with such great speed, that his previous attacks paled in comparison. However, the teen was still able to keep up and deflect each of these attacks during their decent toward the floor. Of which the pink-haired man was directing right into the middle of the closest swirl of thorns. But due to Sora only using one hand on her Keyblade, she used her free one to create a large ball of darkness around her.

The girl's orb of energy causing the swirl to almost instantly dissolve from under her as she landed, to which her own sphere disappeared along with it. It being clear only to Marluxia that Sora had generated a reverse polarity of darkness to counteract his technique with perfect precision. "Impossible..." he whispered as he landed on the floor silently.

Yet his shock soon turned to frustration as he slashed his scythe through the air, sending a great many pink and black arcs of energy toward the girl. Whom only had a brief moment to see these coming, to which she just glanced at the floor and smirked. The heavily cracked ground giving her an idea as she lowered her free hand for a split second before raising it quickly. The teen making a fist while doing this, which created a thick wall of sand in front of her.

This absorbing the attacks easily, to which Sora stepped forward and thrust her arm out. Her action caused the wall of sand to rush toward Marluxia with great speed, yet he was able to jump over it with ease. His leap allowing him to preform an aerial assault on the brown-haired girl as she was still on the floor. The man's attack's consisting of a great many slashes with his scythe, as well as even a few kicks toward her face or chest.

Sora on the other hand was forced into the defensive as she watched each of his attacks carefully to make sure to block or dodge them. Yet, it didn't take long for the teen to deflect one of the man's slashes and leave him wide open to attack. Upon seeing this opening, the brown-haired girl just side flipped to the side. Of which allowed her to avoid the pink-haired man's secondary attack, which had blasted from one of his hands. It being the same thorn-like beam that the hooded man used, which made the teen further understand the connection between these people with the black coats.

Though, Sora simply pushed this to the back of her mind as she simply readying her Keyblade to continue the fight. "Looks like I'm getting better at dodging those." she whispered silently to herself.

Immediately following her words, the teen quickly flipped away from multiple more of these grey beams. The pink-haired man using them in succession after the first one missed it's target. As the girl avoided each of these attacks, she quickly realized that she was doing so with much greater ease than she had against her previous foe. Though after these attacks ended, Sora spun herself around and blocked Marluxia's scythe as it came right toward her head.

"You're fairing better than expected against my techniques." he claimed while the pair clashed multiple more times, both of them keeping their feet planted firmly on the floor.

"Or your lack thereof." Sora commented with a small smirk on her features, them clashing one more time as one more attempt to push the other back.

Her words made the pink-haired man narrow his eyes a bit further while pressing his weapon against the teen's with even greater force. However, Sora just smirked a bit wider to this as she allowed his scythe slide to the side of her. This causing the man to briefly fall forward, but it was all the opening the teen needed to move to his side and deliver and strong elbow into his rib cage. Despite the blow not being enough to truly injure the man, it made him think on instinct for a moment and just swing wildly toward his opponent.

Whom had already moved behind him and swept both his legs with one of her own, now causing him to fall backward. Though, the moment their backs connected, she grabbed his coat and threw him over her head. Marluxia's expression of frustration continued to grow as flew toward the closest part of the wall, yet he never reached it as Sora used the lightning magic still in the air to move into his path. She then kicked him straight down into the floor before he was even able to react properly. Despite letting out a loud grunt and groan of pain, the pink-haired man still cleared his mind and vision enough to see the girl pointing herself directly at him.

Sora's Keyblade being right out in front of her as she fell, it looking as if she was going to stab it right through Marluxia's chest. But right at the last second, said man rolled away and slashed at where Sora had just been. The teen having pushed herself back into the air, just enough to avoid the man's almost immediate attack. The moment she landed her gloved hand upon the hilt of her Keyblade however, she spun herself around and kicked Marluxia hard in the chest.

The man having lifted his scythe up to send another slash toward her, yet he was quickly sent backward with no proper balance and hit the wall behind him. Sora then just lifted her Keyblade out of the floor, as it had embedded itself inside from the initial thrust. She simply smirked lightly to Marluxia as he started to breath a bit heavily while looking at the teen in clear aggravation.

"This is all wrong." he whispered out while staggering briefly while moving away from the wall.

"You never showed any of these techniques in any of your previous fights, how are you able to do all of this?" Marluxia all but demanded while narrowing his eyes even further on the girl.

Sora simply blinked to him a few times before smirking softly and shrugging her shoulders. "I'm just listening to a little something someone told to me before this fight began; 'Allow your body to react instead of thinking about how it should react. Then nothing and no one will be able to beat you.'" she started while taking a few steps forward.

"Unfortunately I don't have the experience to truly understand it, so I asked for a bit of assistance." the teen continued as her eyes flashed a different shade of yellow that only a certain evil fairy had.

Marluxia's eyes widened to this before quickly narrowing once more; "Tch...even in death, that witch is nothing but trouble." he whispered silently as despite never meeting Maleficent, he knew a great deal about her.

Meanwhile, the Riku replica just remained completely untouched near the closed doors. Him blinking many times to everything that transpired as the fight truly seemed like one of near equals. Yet even in his eyes, he could tell that while both sides were holding back, Sora was holding back much more. This making him give a small smirk in comfort of whom would come out on top for this fight. However, this was immediately replaced by a sinking feeling as Marluxia seemed to gain a confident air around him.

"But are you sure about this?" the pink-haired man continued on while slowly steadying himself on his feet.

"You claimed to want to defeat me all on your own, and yet you're seeking help from another?" he finished, to which he placed his scythe upon his shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I only said that I could defeat you without using my full power...and I am." was all Sora responded with, her giving a quick wink of confidence.

After her words, Marluxia just shrugged his shoulders and let out a heavy sigh. "Well...I suppose I've lost." he started, which made the other two occupants in the room quickly tense up.

Both of them knowing that the man was up to something, which they instantly assumed was his last 'trump card'. Though, as Marluxia allowed his weapon to disappear, the teens simply seemed to brace themselves. "But...if I am to die, I wish to let you in on a little secret I think you might like to know." the pink-haired man continued as he kept his hands open, him seeming to try and appear as non-threatening as possible.

Yet this only made the pair feel all the more threatened, to which they even shifted back briefly as if the attack would be some sort of huge blast. However, nothing ever came as Marluxia chuckled lightly from their caution. "And what might that be?" Sora questioned out silently, her gaze completely fixed on the man a few yards in front of her.

"The truth." he started once more while smirking a bit wider, as if he would enjoy telling this information.

"Hmph...fat chance of you telling the truth." the brown-haired teen muttered silently, despite the fact that she could feel her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Believe me if you wish. But I think you'll soon realize on your own, just how much truth there is in my words." Marluxia stated, his tone and expression seeming to ooze confidence.

This making both Sora and the Riku replica feel as if what he was about to say was indeed the truth. But the truth about what? Neither of them could have known until the pink-haired man spoke his next few sentences. "The one who let in the darkness onto your island. The one who allowed the Heartless to reach the heart of that world. It was all you, Sora."

Immediately following this, the girl's eyes widened as she was in disbelief at first. Yet the sheer impact of his words made any argument she thought of to go mute in her voice. Though, as the man continued on, even the thoughts had slowly drifted away as she felt like she was suddenly on trial.

"It's because you allowed your heart to call out to the Kingdom Key of Darkness that brought the Heartless to your world in the first place. It's your fault that your friends and family were swallowed up by the darkness and likely became Heartless as well." he declared while pointing toward her and the Keyblade, his tone sounding as if he was a judge telling reading off her crimes.

"It was you who destroyed your home."

* * *

 **And there you have it, the second to last chapter of this part of the story. I hope you're all still enjoying, this chapter took a lot to do since I wanted to have a truly awesome battle. Though I do feel like I had Sora too powerful, it was because she had help. If left on her own, the fight would have been much different...so...forgive me for that. ^^' Anyway, I really hope everyone liked this chapter and will let me know what you thought in a review. I especially would like your opinions on the fight since I tried to be as descriptive as possible with it. Until next time.**


	25. Castle Oblivion part XXV

**Alright everyone, you better bring something to eat or drink cause this is a long one. It's the longest chapter I've written for this story yet, so just know it might take a little bit to go all the way through. I even added a line-break around halve way through so when you reach it, it'll be a point to go eat, drink or even just go to the bathroom. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy and continue reading the next part, which should be out either next week or the week after. ;)**

* * *

 **Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories**

Chapter 25: Castle Oblivion part XXV

"It was you who destroyed your home."

Upon these words, Sora's eyes widened in utter shock while starting to feel a bit hazy. The brown-haired girl's mind being flooded by confusion, sadness and even rage within a split second. All of which quickly began crumbling away at her very sanity while she stumbled slightly. Despite screaming within her head that she had to push his words aside and finish the fight, the very knowledge of this shattered her will to do so.

"You're lying!" Riku replica yelled out as he gained a fighting stance, him having kept his weapon out the whole time.

Marluxia simply chuckled to this with a wave of his hand; "Oh no...it's no lie. The heart of that world held a connection to both the Kingdom Key of Light, as well as the one of Darkness." he started with a glance toward the replica before turning back to Sora.

"Of course...having been chosen by either of them would have likely resulted in the same ending regardless. But the fact that it was the one of Darkness to have chosen you...means that you were always meant to destroy your island. Ever since the day you were born, you would one day lead to the destruction of not only your world, but countless others." the pink-haired man continued as both teen's stared at him in further shock.

"There is a reason why they are known as the Kingdom Keys. The one of Light is meant to bring peace and protect the worlds from Darkness. Which was found in the Realm of Darkness by that King Mickey, after your world was swallowed by the Heartless. But the one of Darkness...well...I'm sure you can assume on your own of what it means to be chosen by it." Marluxia claimed while slowly smirking all the wider, him actually enjoying the torment that both teens were feeling.

"Had you simply found it, you would have been able to command its power in the name of the Light or whatever you decided. To a Keyblade wielder, a Keyblade that is not your destined one is just another Keyblade. But if the Kingdom Key of Darkness chooses you...then you're just as destined to destroy worlds, as its opposite is in saving them!" he declared loudly, all while pointing a finger toward Sora in an accusing manner.

"Isn't that why you always try to help and save people? You unconsciously knew what you would cause, and wanted to think that it was 'okay' as long as you did something good in return. Well unfortunately for you, it doesn't work that way. You can't run from your destiny, it's all part of where you were born after all." the man said in a somewhat more calm tone while watching Sora fall to her knees.

The brown-haired teen's mind was completely clouded, even Maleficent's voice was nothing but a faint whisper at this point. Her vision began to blur with tears as she kept thinking about each of the friend's that were on the island the night it vanished. How many of them lost their hearts? How many of them even escaped? How many of them could have died? How many people were hurt...because of her?

To all these thoughts, Sora finally turned her gaze toward the Keyblade still within her hand. This allowing her sight to clear briefly as she stared at the weapon in utter fear and disgust, to which she immediately threw it to the side. After seeing this, Marluxia took on a small smirk once more as if 'this' was what he had been hoping for. Yet the replica of Riku narrowed his eyes to the man, whom allowed his scythe to reappear within his hands.

"Sora!" the teen called out while rushing to his friend's side, to which he blocked the pink-haired man's attack as he moved at blinding speed toward the girl.

"Tch! Troublesome puppet." Marluxia growled out while jumping back and away from the boy's slashing counterattack.

After this, Sora looked up toward the replica and blinked through her tear-filled eyes. But before she could say anything, the silver-haired teen spoke up first in a rather calm tone. "Sora...I figured out a name for myself." he began, to which the girl blinked slowly at him a few more times.

"Teng." he continued silently with a small smirk as he slowly glanced over his shoulder to look at Sora.

Whom stared at the boy for a few moments, yet he just chuckled silently as he turned back toward Marluxia. "I know, it sounds a bit weird and pretty lame. But it's the meaning behind it that made me decide on it." the silver-haired teen stated while moving into a fighting position.

"It's short for; 'Tengai'. Which, when translated, is the place where the sky meets the earth..." the boy said silently while giving Sora another quick glance when finishing his words; "...the horizon."

Immediately following this, Teng rushed forward and at Marluxia with his weapon at the ready. His power and speed being even greater since the last time the brown-haired girl had seen it. However, it was clear just from the level that had been showcased by the scythe-wielding man earlier, that this would barely be a fight to begin with. Despite realizing this, Sora couldn't bring herself to neither stand, or even to summon her Keyblade to the side.

The mere thought of holding the very weapon, which caused so much suffering to her friends and family, made her stomach turn. Yet this only increased when she realized that all of the powers she now held were extended from the Keyblade as well. Even her enormous strength was only possible thanks to the power over darkness the blade granted her. But these thoughts were quickly interrupted from the sound of Teng's voice calling out to her in the midst of his clash with Marluxia.

"Sora!" the boy yelled out as he flipped away from a slashing attack from his opponent, which gained the teen's attention.

"You're not a bad person! Nor do you simply do nice things to make up for something else! You didn't even realize or understand what would happen in summoning that Keyblade! So you can't take blame for something that you didn't consciously have any part of!" he declared, all while jumping and rolling away from Marluxia's next series of attacks.

"You do nice things because it's part of who you are!" Teng continued as the pink-haired man in front of him narrowed his eyes heavily, all while glancing at Sora quickly.

Whom had her head tilted down as the boy's words echoed through the hall, it being unclear if she was truly listening to him. Yet, this didn't stop him from going further while his enemy was briefly distracted. "You treated me like a real person from the moment we met and never once believed I was any less real than Riku himself! No one who tries to balance their bad deeds with good ones would ever do such a thing naturally!"

After all but screaming this out, the brown-haired girl slowly tilted her head up to look at him. Teng giving her a firm, yet confident stare as he said his last words in a normal tone. "You're a good person Sora. Don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise."

"That's enough!" Marluxia yelled out while going fully on the offensive against Teng and immediately started pushing the boy back.

However, the moment they locked blades, the teen practically fell to his knees from the man's overwhelming strength and power. As Sora watched this, she started screaming at herself to go and help her friend. Yet the fear and doubt within her mind was still too great, the only movement she was able to muster was the trembling in her hands. Yet with a swift push, Marluxia knocked Teng to the side and was able to reach Sora in the blink of an eye.

He then readied his weapon to kill her as his eyes narrowed heavily on the girl once more. "Such a shame...you would have been of great use to me." he whispered silently while slashing down at her.

As she watched his blade coming down, she could see movement in the corner of her eye. But the girl's mind couldn't seem to comprehend it as she just closed her eyes to await her impending death. Isn't this for the better? Wouldn't her death mean that the Darkness would be weakened, and the Light could be restored? Isn't this what she would deserve for hurting so many? Maybe with her death...all her past sins could be forgiven.

Yet, these thoughts instantly stopped as the sickening sound of a blade breaking and a deep cutting noise echoed through the hall. This caused the girl to snap her eyes open, only for them to be stricken in horror as she saw half of Teng's weapon fall to the floor. Of which then lead for her to slowly move her gaze down as a great deal of blood soon joined his broken blade and stain the white tiles under his feet.

Upon seeing a small puddle develop within seconds, the girl quickly guessed that the wound must have been a deep and long gash across his chest. This made her horror increased ten fold as the light drained from her eyes and her breathing just stopped. However, she still unconsciously reached out and caught Teng as he fell backward into her arms. Upon doing so, Sora's fear had been confirmed. The boy's wound was so deep that it was all too clear, even with the best healing magic, he was going to die.

Sora's eyes remained wide as she moved a hand forward in order to cast a Curaga spell, despite knowing it was futile. Tears welled up in her eyes as her trembling hand began to glow a faint green color. But the moment Marluxia let out a 'tch' and raised his blood stained scythe, Sora's eyes flashed fully yellow as her hand immediately pointed in his direction. The girl's action created an enormous blast of dark energy that briefly swallowed the pink-haired man.

Though he still managed to escape this attack, it had left a few noticeable burns across his face and neck. Yet this was the full extent of the damage, him having moved at very high speed in order to get away. Him knowing that had he reacted even a second later, he may have even lost a limb or two from the sheer density and power the teen used in her attack.

All the while, Sora then moved her hand to hover over Teng's wound once more and cast Curaga over and over again. However, due to her emotional turmoil and the deepness of the wound, the spell did virtually nothing. This making the girl tremble all the more as she kept trying, despite knowing that she couldn't even cast magic properly in her current state. Even if the wound had been shallow enough for the girl to save him, her emotions would still prevent Sora from doing so.

"Come on..." she whispered in a pleading tone as her voice cracked from the tightness in her throat.

"Please..." the girl choked out while tears fell from her cheeks.

Yet her gaze quickly turned to Teng's eyes as he placed a hand over her own and offered a small smile. "It's okay Sora." he started weakly, despite his expression never fading.

"If I'm to die, then it'll be protecting you." the teen continued as a darkness began to surround his body.

Of which was starting to disappear already, causing even more tears to fill and fall from Sora's eyes. "But...I don't want you to die at all." the girl said silently as she could barely even manage to speak at all.

"I know, but it's my choice." Teng stated while smiling a bit wider, to which the brown-haired girl's eyes blinked many times.

"Something I never knew I even had until you came around." he muttered with a brief chuckle, his form now being halfway gone.

"So...thank you, Sora. I'm glad to have protected you at least once." the boy whispered out, his voice starting to become weaker.

"G-Goodb-" Teng began, yet was stopped as his body fully vanished.

The darkness where his body had been remained for a few extra seconds as if symbolizing the last of Teng's very being. However, these moments were all that was needed for Sora to place both her hands into the shadows while her eyes widened fully. Her pupils almost disappearing from how small they became, to which the girl then snapped them shut as tightly as possible. This allowing the tears welling up in them to roll down her already wet cheeks. In an instant, Sora let out a heart wrenching scream of agony, rage, despair and pain. This echoing loudly through the hall as even Marluxia could almost feel the emotions within her scream.

But it was the immediate blaze of darkness the poured out of the girl that truly shocked the scythe-wielding man. It being utterly overwhelming as he was pushed back into the wall by the sheer force the dark power produced. All the while, Sora just continued to scream while holding both hands in the shadows of where Teng had once been. Which was absorbed into the teen as she then placed both hands to her chest, a faint glow emitting from her hands while doing so.

All the while, the force of the teen's power caused the barrier in front of the door to shatter and allow the doors themselves to swing open. This also knocked many of the others to the floor as the sound of Sora's agonizing scream filled the air. Yet while they all called out to her and even rushed their way into the hall, the brown-haired girl never seemed to hear them.

Though it was when all went silent that everyone truly started to worry as they watched Sora slowly stand up to her feet. Despite not seeing Sora very well within the thick layer of darkness around her, everyone immediately saw her fully yellow eyes. Their glow piercing through the darkness like a firefly at midnight, yet appeared as frightening as a tiger stalking a helpless prey.

"I won't..." Sora whispered in a strangely distorted voice, as if more than one person was speaking.

"I won't let him die." she continued as all the darkness surrounding her was suddenly absorbed back into her body.

The teen's form being visible for a brief second before another eruption of dark energy blasted out of her. Only this time, it flared around Sora like a raging inferno of black fire. But even through this, everyone could see a shape taking form behind the girl. Of which seemed to take in all of the surrounding darkness while growing to its full size. This being roughly three times larger than any adult man, yet its legs appeared to be substituted for a long tail that connected to Sora's back. It being a near replica of the Guardian that Ansem had summoned, yet it's appearance was also similar to that of the Heartless the girl fought in the India Wilderness.

"But...that's impossible." Marluxia whispered as there is only one other person he ever knew to have such a creature.

However, from the very sound of his voice, the brown-haired teen snapped her gaze toward him. Yet as the Guardian hovered behind her, it slowly began to shrink as a strange light traveled from Sora's chest, to the creature. Once it had diminished in size to be nearly equal to the brown-haired girl herself, it then started to take a new form that caused everyone's eyes to widen in utter shock.

"I...I won't let him..." Sora whispered in a low growl as if struggling to remain sane from the overwhelming darkness flowing through her.

The Guardian slowly morphed into Teng as the silver-haired boy stepped on the floor just to the side of Sora. Though there was a noticeable stream of darkness that connected the two teens, it was unclear if this was even the real Teng until he opened his eyes. Him just gazed at Marluxia in a similar hatred as the girl beside him, to which he glanced to her briefly.

"Yeah...I think it'll be a Pink Lilium too." he whispered silently before both teens summoned their weapons in near unison.

Upon seeing all this Marluxia unconsciously shifted backward while gazing at the pair in utter shock. Yet he soon focused fully on Sora as he could feel himself starting to tremble lightly at what he knew was coming. "Th-This is impossible...just what in the world are you?" was all he could utter out, him gripping his scythe tightly.

"Well..." Sora started silently, her voice seeming a bit more normal now as she and Teng readied to fight.

"To you..." she continued while slowly narrowing her eyes on the man; "...I'm your worst nightmare."

These were the last words that Marluxia would ever hear as the pair instantly vanished from sight. The two then began slashing, punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing and even clawing at him from every possible direction. Them doing so with such great speed and strength that they were a complete blur to everyone in the hall. By the time they paused, Marluxia's coat was all but shredded and his body was cut and bruised so much that he was nearly unrecognizable. The man breathed heavily and wobbled on his feet while being unable to even defend himself from even one of pair's attacks.

Within moments however, Marluxia was instantly knocked backward by a strong blow to the chest. All the air being vacated from his lungs and caused him to gasp deeply before being caught by the back of his head. Him being in the middle of his gasping breath when he was slammed face first into the floor with enough strength, that it nearly knocked him out.

While the pink-haired man's body went almost completely limp, he started wishing and hoping that they would finally just end it. Him being so wounded that he wouldn't even be able to move around without feeling great pain. However, Marluxia instantly felt even more agony as he was quickly kneed in the stomach and sent flying backward once again. This lead for one of the pair to elbow his back and lift him into the air enough to nearly touch the ceiling. The blow to his spine completely snapping it in two as he lost all feeling to the lower half of his body.

During his decent, so many more slashes and slices tore through his body as he was literally helpless. The pink-haired man almost being thankful that he didn't feel any further pain on his lower body, the pain he felt already was almost enough to make him pass out. All the confidence he had, all the power he obtained, all the manipulation he used...none of it meant anything now.

As he looked down at the floor when the attacks finally stopped, he saw Sora and Teng standing under him with their weapons pointed at his chest. "The Organization is finished..." he whispered silently to himself just as a huge wave of dark power flooded over him and disintegrated his broken body.

Upon witnessing this, everyone in the group almost felt thankful that they could barely see what happened as they could only assume how brutal it really was. Yet despite all this, they all looked at Sora and Teng as the former had her head tilted down. It almost appearing as if she had been the one who lost. In a sense however...she was the loser.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered while lifting her gaze to look at the boy next to her; "...I couldn't save you."

After these words, everyone quickly took notice of the fact that Teng's body was slowly fading away. Yet said teen simply gave a small smile to Sora and waved a hand dismissively. "You allowed my heart to enter yours and even provided me with a temporary body to help you beat that guy. I'd consider that a rescue if I ever saw one." he claimed, both he and the girl unsummoning their weapons.

"But...if I hadn't let myself fall into his trap, you wouldn't have had to sacrifice yourself in the first place." Sora stated, it being clear that she was extremely angry with herself.

Teng raised a brow to her before sighing, to which he then placed his fist upon her chest and smirked lightly. "Hey...I said it was my choice, and I'm happy for it. At least give me that?" he asked silently, his gaze reflecting a softness that made the girl blink a few times while they looked into each others eyes.

Sora the slowly gained small smile and nodded her head in response, despite the tears welling up in her eyes once more. "Alright...but I won't give up in that name." she whispered silently as they both shared a chuckle.

"I know...it's lame." Teng muttered while nodding in agreement to her comment, his body halfway gone by this point.

"Yeah...but I do like it." Sora added as she placed her fist against her friend's chest; "I'll find a way to bring you back, I promise."

The silver-haired boy chuckled lightly, to which he then just gave a shrug and smile. "I figured you'd say that...just don't do anything rash, alright?"

"Deal." the blue-eyed girl whispered with a slow nod, her watching Teng disappear in front of her eyes.

Of which caused even more tears to welled up, forcing her to close both eyes tightly. This seemed to signal the others to come rushing over to her as they had wanted to give the Sora time alone with Teng for their 'farewells'. Kairi had immediately hugged her friend from behind, all while Riku placed a hand to Sora's left shoulder as to try and comfort her. Donald and Goofy spoke words of encouragement, while Mickey and Namine stood to the side.

Yet the latter of the last two seemed to want nothing more than to hug the girl as well. However, she held herself back as if knowing that there was something she had to say, yet was afraid to. How would Sora even react when given the choice Namine would have to pose to her?

* * *

It was almost ten minutes before Sora finally made another sound, other than her silent crying. Of which had been a simple clearing of her throat while sniffing silently immediately afterward. "Thanks you guys." she whispered with a glance between each of them, her voice being a bit hoarse from all her crying.

"I..." she started, yet it was clear from her rather choked tone that she was going to say something that would berate herself.

This lead for each of them to just shake their heads in response to her before she could even continue. "Lets just leave it at that for now." Kairi suggested as she loosened her hug on Sora.

"We can all work together to save him, so until then...no beating yourself up." she stated in a strangely firm, yet soft manner that just made Sora nod slowly in response.

"Alright...fair enough. I can't help him if I'm sulking around, huh?" the brown-haired girl said silently while doing her best to smile at her friends.

"Exactly, besides...he's not really gone after all." Kairi added with a nod and small smile of her own.

"Yeah." Sora whispered as she placed a hand over her chest while feeling Teng's heart within her.

However, she soon blinked a few times as she suddenly felt something else at the same time. It felt familiar, yet foreign at the same time. But before she could think any further on this, everyone turned to the doors as Axel came walking into the hall. Each of them able to hear his foot steps approaching, thanks to how easily the sound echoed off the walls. Though, after seeing the number of people remaining and the expressions they all had, the red-haired man could tell most of what transpired.

"Sorry for intruding, but I just thought that I'd check and see what happened after that sudden influx of dark power." he said silently before taking a step back, knowing that he was kind of interrupting.

"I thought something went wrong when no one showed up after a while, but I can see what happened." the man continued silently, him feeling a bit awkward as he wasn't sure of how to just leave at this point.

"Um...anyway, the others are awake if you want to talk to them. But I would actually hurry since we're all leaving soon." Axel finished as he finally just left, him letting out a silent breath and even muttered how awkward that situation was while going.

This caused Sora slowly smile once more as she took in and let out a breath; "Alright...we better head out too." she said with a quick nod to everyone around her.

They each returned this gesture and made their way out of the large hall and through the long corridor. But upon reaching halfway, Namine spoke up after having her head down in thought much of the time. "Sora..." she started, to which said girl and the others stopped in their steps.

"...I didn't want to spring this on you right now, but I'm afraid I have to." she continued silently, her gaze slowly shifting to the floor once again.

"Before we leave this castle, there is a choice that you have to make." Namine said while bringing her eyes up to look at the girl directly.

"Whats that?" Sora questioned quietly, yet she almost seemed to already know what was coming.

"You can either continue on as you are now with all the altered memories I created. Or I can place you in status, and you can have your memories restored to the way they were. But that will mean you'll forget everything that happened here, including what just occurred." the blond-haired girl all but whispered, it breaking her heart to even give such a choice to begin with.

The very sight of Sora made Namine's heart clench as she had to turn away in order to fight back the tears she could feel coming. Her knowing that the brown-haired girl would be furious about such words, as they implied completely forgetting about Teng. However, no angry or hurt-filled response came as the teen just sighed and glanced to the side briefly.

"I'd like to say that I'll just continue on as I am, but would it be right of me to just forget about those that I have forgotten?" the girl questioned while chuckling softly and shrugging her shoulders.

"Just assuming that my old friendships can simply be renewed is completely unfair toward my old friends. Yet on the other side, would it even be considered fair to just regain all my old memories and forget about all the new friends I've made here?" she continued, to which she slowly placed a hand to her chest and closed her eyes.

"I don't think I can choose one or the other." Sora whispered mainly to herself as she seemed to know that this would always become a factor, yet chose not to think about it.

"Foolish child...I have power over sleep. And if she's putting you to sleep during this procedure, then I can store the memories you gained here and simply reconnect them to your normal memories. It'll mean that you'll have two different memories of the same event in some places, but you will remember everything." Maleficent suddenly stated within Sora's mind.

This made the girl's eyes snap open as it had been the first time she spoke up since the teen's mind had been clouded by the darkness. 'So...I can keep all these memories?' the teen asked the woman as her gaze turned just to the side of everyone.

Where, in Sora's vision, was the spot Maleficent was standing patiently. "It'll feel like a dream, but yes." was the witch's response as she just turned to the side.

"And I will only do it if you agree that for the entire time you're asleep, you will undergo my mental teachings. I will not have you waking up the ill-mannered and immature buffoon you are now." she continued in a very firm tone, which simply made Sora smile widely.

"Deal." she voiced aloud, causing many to look at her with a confused expression.

"Restore my memories to how they were, cause no matter what you do...I'm going to remember everything that happened here." the brown-haired girl stated in a very confident tone, making each of the others blink a few times in response.

Namine in particular seemed to be very confused, her wanting to say something to counter the girl's statement. However, Sora's simple expression of confidence made her just slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Alright...just follow me when you're ready." she said silently, her unable to feel any reason not to trust Sora as they then made their way into the previous room.

Upon entering, all of the remaining Organization members within the castle were standing in the middle of the small hall. The brown-haired teen smiled lightly to them and came walking up to the center of their group. Larxene raised a brow and crossed her arms with a huff, as if she were trying to hide the fact that she was looking the girl over for injuries. Zexion simply gave the teen a nod in greeting along with Lexaeus as they stood side-by-side one another. Vexen however, stared at her as if in shock of the fact that she came back alive, yet quickly passed this off with a quick cough.

"Well then...nicely done with Marluxia, but I believe there is a matter of us owing you a favor." Axel started from the girl's right side.

"We'd like to have that take care of before we leave so we can get back to being the 'bad guys'." he continued, which caused everyone who wasn't wearing an organization coat to sweat drop.

"Excuse me...but I owe her no favor!" Vexen declared quickly as he puffed his chest out for a brief moment.

"Oh shut up, we all know she helped with your research." Larxene claimed in a huff, her uncrossing both arms and placed her gloved hands upon her hips.

"So just suck it up and deal with it." Zexion added silently, making Vexen growl silently and turn to the side as if giving up his struggle.

All of this making the others in the room to sweat drop even further as the interactions between each of these people seemed so...human. Of which lead for Sora to giggle softly and wave a hand, this showing that she wasn't going to be picky about the favors. "Well...I was going to ask each of you to teach me how to use your unique powers and such." the girl began with a small smile, yet she soon shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

"But it looks like I'll have to call a rain check on that one since I'll be going to sleep in a little bit." she continued, to which even Larxene looked at her with a raised brow in question.

"Though...since I know none of you want to stay indebted to me, my favor will simply to never tell anyone of where I am." were the words that brought about a rather shocked expression on each of the Organization members' faces.

Every single one of them knew what this meant for them, something that even Sora herself had a vague idea about. However, after a few moments of silence, Axel just chuckled silently and shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well...if that's the deal, then consider it done." he answered with a nod of his head to the teen.

Whom returned this gesture as the red-haired man then gave a wave and started walking away. "I'll see you guys back at base." he muttered before vanishing in a portal of darkness.

A couple seconds of thinking later, Lexaeus nodded his own head while looking to Sora. "Agreed, I shall never tell a single person about your location." he declared with a fist raised to his chest as if to symbolize a warrior's oath.

This quickly lead for him to follow in Axel's steps and disappear into his own portal. Once the large man vanished, Zexion sighed heavily with a brief shrug. "Well...it would take a lot less time to keep a secret, than to teach you everything in my book. So I guess you can count on me as well." he said silently before heading to the side as well to leave via a swirl of darkness.

"Tch! The fools! The lot of them!" Vexen declared firmly in a light growl, yet he slowly turned to Sora and pointed a finger to her.

"Let me make this perfectly clear...I have no intention of disobeying orders! I'm not going to risk my life for a favor or any such thing!" he continued while turning away and walking to the side.

However, he briefly paused and spoke again without even turning around; "But I can keep a secret, so long as no one uses the right phrase of words when asking about it." he muttered silently and quickly, him then disappearing instantly afterward.

Once he had, Sora's attention turned to Larxene as she was the only one remaining. The whole room going silent as they waited on the blond's answer, which just came in the form of a simple; "Tch! Whatever."

Immediately after this, the older girl vanished in a portal and left the remaining others on their own. Which lead for Sora to turn to Namine with a small smile and slow nod of her head. "I'm ready." she whispered as the other girl returned this expression and gesture with a mirroring one.

Floor after floor, Sora returned back to the very first floor with all of her friends, where of which someone was waiting. This person had on a very complex series of clothing that mainly consisted of a red cape and a pitch black shirt underneath. The latter garment had a white symbol upon it, as well as leading into grey, segmented armor that covered his sides and abdomen. Going further down, his legs were covered by a long, black cloth that held multiple brown pouches.

Though, the strangest thing was that the man's face was covered in red bandages, save for his right eye and mouth. These bandages were held tightly around him by two intersecting belts around his head, one even passing over the spot where his left eye would be. His visible eye however was orange in color and the tone of his skin seemed fairly dark, even by comparison to Sora's natural tan. Lastly, he also had a dark colored scarf around his neck, yet it looked visibly old by the look of it.

"And this is?" Sora questioned with blinking eyes at the sheer strangeness of the man's appearance.

"He calls himself 'DiZ'." Riku spoke up, to which his brown-haired friend blinked a few times toward him.

"He and Mickey were the ones to help me conquer the lingering will of Ansem that resides inside of me." the silver-haired boy continued, making Sora blink many more times.

"Aw man...I missed a lot, huh?" she commented silently as if regretting not going and looking for Riku when she had the chance.

"I assume you have made your choice?" DiZ questioned suddenly in a deep and rather old sounding voice.

"Whoa...you would be amazing at telling stories with a voice like that." Sora muttered silently before quickly clearing her throat and nodding in response to him.

"Yes...I have." she answered quickly, to which DiZ merely nodded back and lead her into a secret passage on the opposite side of the room as the one that lead to the lower floors.

Upon going inside, it brought them into a short corridor that had opened up into a very bright and large room. It having a dome ceiling with strange green markings on the floor, as well as a white, egg-shaped pod in the center. "I'm guessing I'll be sleeping in that?" Sora questioned as DiZ placed a hand to the surface of the pod.

Of which was about ten to fifteen feet tall and wide enough to hold at least three other people aside herself. Though, once the man made contact with it, the front of the capsule seemed to open up and revel the silver and grey inside. "Indeed, and when you awake...you won't remember anything after your defeat of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness." DiZ stated silently while stepping to the side in order to let Sora go in.

Said teen just kept a small grin on her features as she looked around to her friends and nodded her head. "I'll see you all again soon." she spoke silently before offering each of them a farewell hug.

Her hug with Kairi seemed to linger for a few extra seconds before she then moved on to Riku. Whom just settled on a quick fist bump with his brown-haired friend, to which they shared a small grin with each other. With Donald and Goofy, Sora hugged them both at the same time and even kissed their cheeks. Though, despite not knowing Mickey very well, they shared a tight embrace as if they were always destined to become friends without ever knowing it.

When hugging and eventually releasing Namine, Sora smiled widely with a wink toward the blond. "I'll remember...I promise." she said while holding out her pinky finger.

The girl blinked briefly to this before she soon locked her own pinky finger with Sora's. "I'll see you when you wake up." she whispered softly as they unlocked their fingers and allowed the brown-haired girl to then jump into the pod.

Sora waved her hand to them as the opening of the pod slowly closed, to which it sealed the girl off from the rest of the world once it did. There being nothing but complete darkness even before the teen slowly closed her eyes. After only a brief moment, a small amount of gas was let into the chamber and allowed the teen to drift off into sleep almost instantly. Her last thoughts being; 'Things will be okay.' before her consciousness slipped away.

The girl not knowing just how right, yet wrong she was. For she had gained so much, but hadn't lost an equal amount. As is not the way...of Castle Oblivion.

* * *

 **And there you have it, this chapter was literally over eleven pages long. So yeah, it was a long one to write. But I really hope all of you enjoyed and let me know what you thought about this chapter and this part of the story as a whole. Did you think I rushed the ending? Was the flow from chapter to chapter okay? Did you enjoy the battles? Let me know in a review and stay tuned for the next part; 'Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days' either next week or the week afterward. Thank you all for sticking with me thus far and I hope to entertain you even more in the future.**


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